A soft computing approach to kidney diseases evaluation

Kidney renal failure means that one’s kidney have unexpectedly stopped functioning, i.e., once chronic disease is exposed, the presence or degree of kidney dysfunction and its progression must be assessed, and the underlying syndrome has to be diagnosed. Although the patient’s history and physical examination may denote good practice, some key information has to be obtained from valuation of the glomerular filtration rate, and the analysis of serum biomarkers. Indeed, chronic kidney sickness depicts anomalous kidney function and/or its makeup, i.e., there is evidence that treatment may avoid or delay its progression, either by reducing and prevent the development of some associated complications, namely hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular complications. Acute kidney injury appears abruptly, with a rapid deterioration of the renal function, but is often reversible if it is recognized early and treated promptly. In both situations, i.e., acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease, an early intervention can significantly improve the prognosis.The assessment of these pathologies is therefore mandatory, although it is hard to do it with traditional methodologies and existing tools for problem solving. Hence, in this work, we will focus on the development of a hybrid decision support system, in terms of its knowledge representation and reasoning procedures based on Logic Programming, that will allow one to consider incomplete, unknown, and even contradictory information, complemented with an approach to computing centered on Artificial Neural Networks, in order to weigh the Degree-of-Confidence that one has on such a happening. The present study involved 558 patients with an age average of 51.7 years and the chronic kidney disease was observed in 175 cases. The dataset comprise twenty four variables, grouped into five main categories. The proposed model showed a good performance in the diagnosis of chronic kidney disease, since the sensitivity and the specificity exhibited values range between 93.1 and 94.9 and 91.9–94.2 %, respectively

Digital clinical guidelines modelling

Oliveira T., Costa A., Neves J., Novais P., Digital Clinical Guidelines Modelling, Modelling and Simulation 2011, Novais P., Machado J., Analide C., Abelha A., (Eds.) (ESM’2011 – The 2011 European Simulation and Modelling Conference, Guimarães, Portugal) EUROSIS Publisher, ISBN: 978-9077381-66-3, pp 392-398, 2011.Healthcare environments are very demanding, because practitioners are required to consult many patients in a short period of time, increasing the levels of stress which usually harms the outcome of healthcare processes. The short time practitioners have with their patients does not facilitate informed decision making and checking all possibilities. A possible solution is the use of guideline-based applications, because they have the potential of being an effective means of both changing the process of healthcare and improving its outcomes. However, current Clinical Guidelines are available in text format as long documents, which render them difficult to consult and to integrate in clinical Decision Support Systems. With this paper we present a new model for guideline interpretation, in order to facilitate de development of guideline-based Decision Support Systems and to increase the availability of Clinical Guidelines at the moment of the clinical process. This model will also provide mechanisms to comply with cases where incomplete and uncertain information is present. The development and implementation of this model will be presented in the following pages

Wildfire patterns and landscape changes in Mediterranean oak woodlands

Fire is infrequent in the oak woodlands of southern Portugal (montado) but large and severe fires affected these agro-forestry systems in 2003–2005. We hypothesised transition from forest to shrubland as a fire-driven process and investigated the links between fire incidence and montado change to other land cover types, particularly those related with the presence of pioneer communities (generically designed in this context as “transitions to early-successional communities”). We present a landscape-scale framework for assessing the probability of transition from montado to pioneer communities, considering three sets of explanatory variables: montado patterns in 1990 and prior changes from montado to early-successional communities (occurred between 1960 and 1990), fire patterns, and spatial factors. These three sets of factors captured 78.2% of the observed variability in the transitions from montado to pioneer vegetation. The contributions of fire patterns and spatial factors were high, respectively 60.6% and 43.4%, the influence of montado patterns and former changes in montado being lower (34.4%). The highest amount of explained variation in the occurrence of transitions from montado to earlysuccessional communities was related to the pure effect of fire patterns (19.9%). Low spatial connectedness in montado landscape can increase vulnerability to changes, namely to pioneer vegetation, but the observed changes were mostly explained by fire characteristics and spatial factors. Among all metrics used to characterize fire patterns and extent, effective mesh size provided the best modelling results. Transitions from montado to pioneer communities are more likely in the presence of high values of the effective mesh size of total burned area. This cross-boundary metric is an indicator of the influence of large fires in the distribution of the identified transitions and, therefore, we conclude that the occurrence of large fires inmontado increases its probability of transition to shrubland

Valorization of chicken feathers using aqueous solutions of ionic liquids

The poultry-processing industry generates large quantities of waste rich in keratin, a fibrous protein representing around 90 wt % of chicken feathers, which is currently disposed of in landfilling or incinerated. Keratin is commonly recognized as a renewable biopolymer resource used for biomaterials preparation (e.g., films and hydrogels) with interest for biomedical applications. Even though research on keratin recovery from chicken feathers started many years ago, very few keratin materials from this source have been developed due to the low keratin solubility in most common solvents and poor protein recovery yield. Although ionic liquids (ILs) have been reported as alternative solvents with high dissolution capability for several biopolymers, keratin recovery from chicken feathers using aqueous solutions of ILs was not investigated up to date. Considering the Green Chemistry Principles (especially the first one: zero waste) and Circular Economy concepts, in this work, we show that chicken feathers can be effectively dissolved in an aqueous solution of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (80 wt %), further allowing the keratin recovery and preparation of keratin biofilms. The keratin recovery from the IL aqueous solution was optimized considering the coagulant type, solution:coagulant weight ratio, temperature, and time, being the coagulant type the variable with higher influence in the recovery process. Under the best conditions (ethanol, 1:2 w/w, 5 °C, and 1 h), 90 wt % of keratin was recovered. The IL recovery and reuse were also evaluated, still allowing 82 wt % of recovery yield at the end of the third cycle. The recovered keratin was characterized, confirming the required physicochemical properties. A keratin film was finally prepared and characterized through cell viability, oxidative stress and wound healing assays, opening the path for the use of keratin films in biomedical applications.publishe

Implantation of intracorneal ring segments in pediatric patients: long-term follow-up

Purpose: To analyze the long-term outcomes of intracorneal ring segments (ICRS) implantation for keratoconus management in pediatric patients. Methods: Retrospective case series review of the long-term (>5 years) outcomes of Intacs® ICRS implantation for keratoconus in pediatric patients (age <18 years old at the time of surgery) between January 2008 and December 2011 at Ophthalmology Department of Hospital de Santo António. Demographic data, follow-up time, preoperative and postoperative uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in decimal scale, and corneal topography were evaluated. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS for windows (version 24). Significance was set at p<0.0125. Results: Fourteen eyes of 14 patients, with a mean age of 15.36 years (range 10-18 years), were included in this study. All patients had been diagnosed with keratoconus with reported progression in the 6 months prior to surgery. Follow-up time was 6.36±0.97 years. UCVA and BCVA improved after ICRS implantation (p<0.0125). Keratometry (K) minimum (Kmin) and K maximum (Kmax) decreased after surgery (p<0.0125). During follow-up, UCVA, BCVA, Kmin, and Kmax values ranged, showing a tendency to worsen at the end of follow-up. However, statistically significant differences were not observed. Conclusion: ICRS implantation showed good visual and topographic results in pediatric patients. Long-term follow-up suggests that, despite ICRS implantation, there is still progression of keratoconus. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports regarding the long-term efficacy of ICRS implantation in pediatric patients.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Novel 1-hydroxy-1,1-bisphosphonates derived from indazole: synthesis and characterization

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are an important class of drugs used in the treatment of abnormal calcium metabolism diseases. The first syntheses of bisphosphonates derived from indazole, substituted at the N-1, N-2 and C-3 positions are reported. The 1-hydroxy-1,1-bisphosphonates were synthesized from the corresponding carboxylic acid or acyl chloride compounds, by two different methods. These BPs have a side chain with different lengths ((CH2)n, n = 0-5) between the indazole ring and the bisphosphonate group

Analysis of the dynamic air conditioning loads, fuel consumption and emissions of heavy-duty trucks with different glazing and paint optical properties

The European transportation sector employs 10 million people and accounts for 4.6% of the European Union GDP. Due to climate change, this workforce is increasingly affected by high temperatures and radiant loads, particularly during summer. They rely on air conditioning (AC) to minimize heat inside the truck cabins, increasing fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. Because sustainable transportation is crucial for climate change mitigation, we developed a numerical investigation on the dynamic thermal exchanges of cabins of heavy-duty trucks in realistic conditions of a summer workday, to quantify the potential impact of interventions in the glazing and paint optical properties, over the truck AC loads. We observed that the changes in air temperature and solar irradiation throughout the workday imply substantial variations in the truck's AC loads and, consequently, in its fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. Furthermore, windshields and side windows with transmissivity of 0.33 instead of typical 0.79 and 0.84, respectively, can reduce AC loads by up to 16%. External paints with reflectivity of 0.70 instead of 0.04 can reduce the AC loads by up to 30%, whereas cumulative changes to glazing and paint can reduce the AC load by up to 40%. These interventions can lower fuel consumption and emissions by up to 0.4%. These results show that important improvements in fuel efficiency and tailpipe emissions are possible, if the research community, policy makers and industry stakeholders successfully promote the adaptation of the European transportation fleet

First stage of the development of an eco-friendly detergent formulation for efficient removal of carbonized soil

Detergent formulations for cleaning a carbonized soil-degreasers-typically comprise surfactants, organic solvents, phosphate-based cleaning agents, and alkaline agents, which results in high pH values (>11) that raise human and environmental risks. It is important to develop eco-friendly and safer degreasers, while maintaining their cleaning efficiency. In this work, simple degreaser formulations, with a pH below 11 and without phosphates, were developed by using a mixture of solvent, surfactant, and water to remove carbonized soil. The efficiency of the new degreaser formulations (with 5 wt% solvent, 5 wt% nonionic or ionic surfactant, and 90 wt% water) was evaluated by an abrasion test in the removal of carbonized soil from ceramic and stainless steel surfaces and compared with a commercial product. The results obtained show that the formulations comprising isopropylene glycol (IPG) with C11-C13 9EOs and diethylene glycol butyl ether (BDG) with octyltrimethylammonium octanoate ([N1118][C8O2]) present the best cleaning efficiency for both surfaces. The composition of these formulations was optimized for each surface using a mixture design. The resulting formulations, despite having a simpler composition, a pH lower than 11, and being phosphate-free, presented a cleaning efficiency equal or slightly higher than the commercial control. These results show that it is possible to design degreasers that are much less aggressive to the environment and user, while simultaneously fulfilling the market requirements.publishe

Processing of tetrahedrite-based thermoelectric materials using tetrahedrite-tennantite copper ores

ABSTRACT: Tetrahedrite-based compounds are considered a promising thermoelectric material. The tetrahedrite-tennantite series, that can be generically expressed as Cu6[Cu4(Fe,Zn)2](Sb,As)4S13, is one of the most abundant sulfosalt minerals in the earth’s crust. The Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), located in southern Portugal and Spain, is the host of the largest concentration of massive sulfide deposits worldwide, where the tetrahedrite-tennantite series mineral is one of the constituents. In this work we evaluate the effectiveness of combining synthetic tetrahedrite (ST) with tetrahedritetennantite ore samples (TTOS) in the mechanochemical synthesis (MCS) process of tetrahedrite based compounds. The ore samples were collected from two distinct deposits within the Portuguese part of the IPB, the Neves Corvo mine and the abandoned Barrigão copper mine. The ST, also produced by MCS, were mixed with the TTOS in different mass ratios ranging from 20-80%. The influence of the chemical composition and phase constitution of the ore samples and of the mixing ratios will be presented in relation to the micro-structural properties of the obtained materials. The results here described are part of a broader study dedicated to the development of energy-harvesting applications based on tetrahedrite.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio