Processing and classification of biological images: Application to histology

This article deals with a histological problem by using image processing and feature extraction in images of renal tissues of rats and their classification through various methods such as: Bayesian inference, decision trees and support vector machines

Injury to the Superior Gluteal Artery during Intramedullary Fixation of a Proximal Femoral Fracture - A Case Report

Proximal femoral fractures represent a health problem of global proportions. Iatrogenic vascular lesion in the treatment of these fractures is an unusual potentially lethal complication, reported in only 0.2% of trochanteric fractures treated with intramedullary implants. Superior gluteal artery injury is extremely rare, with only two cases reported in literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Kinetic control of the coverage of oil droplets by DNA-functionalized colloids

We report a study of reversible adsorption of DNA-coated colloids on complementary functionalized oil droplets. We show that it is possible to control the surface coverage of oil droplets using colloidal particles by exploiting the fact that, during slow adsorption, compositional arrest takes place well before structural arrest occurs. As a consequence, we can prepare colloid-coated oil droplets with a "frozen" degree of loading but with fully ergodic colloidal dynamics on the droplets. We illustrate the equilibrium nature of the adsorbed colloidal phase by exploring the quasi-two-dimensional phase behavior of the adsorbed colloids under the influence of depletion interactions and present simulations of a simple model that illustrates the nature of the compositional arrest and the structural ergodicity.A.C. acknowledges support from the ETN-COLLDENSE (H2020-MCSA-ITN-2014, grant no. 642774). E.E. and J. Burelbach thank the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability for the Pump Prime Grant and the scholarship award, respectively. D.J. thanks the Udayan Care-VCare grant, the Nehru Trust for Cambridge University, the Schlumberger Foundation’s Faculty for the Future Program, and Hughes Hall Santander Bursary Scholarship. Z.X. thanks the National University of Defense Technology Scholarship at Cambridge. A.S.N., D.E.P.P., and N.A.M.A. acknowledge financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (grants EXCL/FIS-NAN/ 0083/2012, UID/FIS/00618/2013, and IF/00255/2013). J. Brujic thanks the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program of the National Science Foundation under Award DMR-1420073 and L. L. Pontani

Ordering of binary colloidal crystals by random potentials

Structural defects are ubiquitous in condensed matter, and not always a nuisance. For example, they underlie phenomena such as Anderson localization and hyperuniformity, and they are now being exploited to engineer novel materials. Here, we show experimentally that the density of structural defects in a 2D binary colloidal crystal can be engineered with a random potential. We generate the random potential using an optical speckle pattern, whose induced forces act strongly on one species of particles (strong particles) and weakly on the other (weak particles). Thus, the strong particles are more attracted to the randomly distributed local minima of the optical potential, leaving a trail of defects in the crystalline structure of the colloidal crystal. While, as expected, the crystalline ordering initially decreases with an increasing fraction of strong particles, the crystalline order is surprisingly recovered for sufficiently large fractions. We confirm our experimental results with particle-based simulations, which permit us to elucidate how this non-monotonic behavior results from the competition between the particle-potential and particle-particle interactions

Systemic Correlates of Angiographic Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary angiography allows a direct evaluation of coronary anatomy. The aim of the present investigation was to search for correlations between the magnitude of coronary artery disease, as assessed by angiography, and a number of systemic parameters. A group of 116 patients (80 male, 36 female) with coronary heart disease diagnosed by angiography, aged 62.0±10.5 years, was the subject of an observational study. Correlation and linear regression analysis using coronary artery disease burden (CADB - sum of the percentage of the luminal stenosis encountered in all the lesions of the coronary arterial trees) as dependent variable, and age, sex, plasma calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, glucose, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, estimated glomerular filtration rate and body mass index as independent variables, were carried out. Significant correlation values versus CADB were seen with age (r 0.19, p 0.04), uric acid (r 0.18, p 0.048) and fasting plasma glucose (r 0.33, p<0.001). Linear regression analysis, yielding a global significance level of 0.002, showed a significant value for glucose (p 0.018) and for sex (0.008). In conclusion, among several systemic parameters studied, plasma glucose was found to be correlated to coronary artery atherosclerosis lesions

Functionalized Cyclopentenones with Low Electrophilic Character as Anticancer Agents

In this study were synthesized non-Michael acceptor cyclopentenones (CP) from biomass derivative furfural as anticancer agents. Cyclic enones, both from natural sources and synthetic analogues, have been described as cytotoxic agents. Most of these agents were unsuccessful in becoming valuable therapeutic agents due to toxicity problems derived from unselective critical biomacromolecule alkylation. This may be caused by Michael addition to the enone system. Ab initio studies revealed that 2,4-substituted CPs are less prone to Michael additions, and as such were tested three families of those derivatives. We prepare the new CPs from furfural through a tandem furan ring opening/nazarov electrocyclization and further functionalization. Experimentally the 2,4-substituted CPs exhibited no reactivity towards sulphur nucleophiles, while maintaining cytotoxicity against HT-29, MCF-7, NCI-H460, HCT-116 and MDA-MB 231 cells lines. Moreover, the selected CP are non-toxic against healthy HEK 293T cell lines and present proper calculated drug-like properties

REALMS Study: Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Fingolimod in Patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in Portugal

Background: Fingolimod, an oral sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulator, is approved by EMA for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and safety of fingolimod in patients with RRMS in real-world clinical practice in Portugal. Methods: Retrospective, multicentre, non-interventional study, reporting 3 years follow-up of data collected from October 2015 to July 2016. Sociodemographic data and previous treatments at baseline and data regarding disease evolution, including number of relapses, annualised relapse rates (ARR) and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), were collected. Results: Two-hundred and seventy-five participants were enrolled in the REALMS study. Results showed that the main reason to switch to fingolimod was failure of previous treatment (56.7%) and only 3.6% were naïve patients. In the total population, there was a significant decrease in ARR of 64.6% in the first year of treatment, 79.7% in the second year and 82.3% in the third year, compared with baseline. More than 67.0% of patients had no relapses during the 3 years after switching to fingolimod. EDSS remained stable throughout the study. Conclusions: Therapy with fingolimod showed a sustained effectiveness and safety over the 3 years, particularly on patients switched from first-line drugs (BRACE). No new safety issues were reported.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of promoting self-care in nursing workload

Abstract OBJECTIVES To assess the impact of promoting self-care in nursing workload and associate it to the variables: age, gender, socioeconomic status, education, marital status and number of children of caregivers. METHODS Prospective study with 31 children and their caregivers. Participants were assessed at two moments, 1st and 2nd hospitalization, the nursing workload was measured by the Nursing Activities Score (NAS). RESULTS The mean NAS in the 1st hospitalization was 60.9% and in the 2nd hospitalization was 41.6%, that is, 14.6 and 9.9 hours of nursing, respectively. The nursing workload on the first day of hospitalization was higher compared to the last day, both for the 1st (p<0.001) and for the 2nd hospitalization (p<0.001), and higher in the first (p<0.001) and in the last day (p=0.025) in the 1st hospitalization. Comparing the 1st hospitalization to the 2nd hospitalization, the first was higher (p<0.001), and NAS items related to the training of self-care was influenced (p<0.001). CONCLUSION The nursing workload associated to self-care promotion corresponded to 14.6 hours and was higher than determined by the existing legislation

Nursing workload in specialized Semi-intensive Therapy unit: workforce size criteria

Abstract OBJECTIVE To assess the nursing workload (NW) in Semi-intensive Therapy Unit, specialized in the care of children with Craniofacial anomalies and associated syndromes; to compare the amount of workforce required according to the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) and the COFEN Resolution 293/04. METHOD Cross-sectional study, whose sample was composed of 72 patients. Nursing workload was assessed through retrospective application of the NAS. RESULTS the NAS mean was 49.5%. Nursing workload for the last day of hospitalization was lower in patients being discharged to home (p<0.001) and higher on the first compared to last day of hospitalization (p< 0.001). The number of professionals required according to NAS was superior to the COFEN Resolution 293/04, being 17 and 14, respectively. CONCLUSION the nursing workload corresponded to approximately 50% of the working time of nursing professional and was influenced by day and outcome of hospitalization. The amount of professionals was greater than that determined by the existing legislation