Data-driven disaster management in a smart city

Disasters, both natural and man-made, are extreme and complex events with consequences that translate into a loss of life and/or destruction of properties. The advances in IT and Big Data analysis represent an opportunity for the development of resilient environments once the application of analytical methods allows extracting information from a significant amount of data, optimizing the decision-making processes. This research aims to apply the CRISP-DM methodology to extract information about incidents that occurred in the city of Lisbon with emphasis on occurrences that affected buildings, constituting a tool to assist in the management of the city. Through this research, it was verified that there are temporal and spatial patterns of occurrences that affected the city of Lisbon, with some types of occurrences having a higher incidence in certain periods of the year, such as floods and collapses that occur when there are high levels of precipitation. On the other hand, it was verified that the downtown area of the city is the area most affected by occurrences. Finally, machine learning models were applied to the data and the predictive model Random Forest obtained the best result with an accuracy of 58%.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Optimization of peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization (PNA-FISH) method for the detection of bacteria: the effect of pH, dextran sulfate and probe concentration

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) appeared in the 1980’s and is nowadays widely used in the field of microbiology. FISH is affected by a wide variety of abiotic and biotic variables and their interplay. This is translated into a wide variability of FISH procedures that can be found in the literature. The aim of this work is to study the effects of pH, probe and dextran sulphate concentration in the FISH protocol. For this, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize FISH protocol for gram-negative (E. coli and P. fluorescens) and gram-positive bacteria (L. innocua, S. epidermidis and B. cereus), for these 3 parameters. The obtained results show a clear distinction between the two groups: higher pH (>9) combined with lower dextran sulphate concentration (7% [w/v]), for Gram-positive bacteria. The optimal probe concentration was the same for both groups (300 nM). These results seem to result from an interplay of pH and dextran sulphate ability to influence the probe concentration and migration inside the bacteria

PESQUISA DE ANTICORPOS ANTI-PGL-I EM PACIENTES INFECTADOS PELO HIV EM ÁREA ENDÊMICA PARA HANSENÍASE

Esse estudo investiga a infecção subclínica de Mycobacterium leprae em pacientes infectados e não infectados pelo HIV, através da dosagem de anticorpos anti-PGL-I, e avalia se existe uma possível correlação dos resultados sorológicos encontrados com o estado de imunossupressão dos pacientes infectados pelo HIV. Foi realizado um estudo transversal analítico em 350 pacientes infectados pelo HIV e em 350 pacientes não infectados pelo HIV para detecção de anticorpos IgM anti-PGL-I em região endêmica para hanseníase. Avaliou-se uma possível correlação do estado de imunossupressão dos pacientes infectados pelo HIV (contagem de linfócitos CD4+, carga viral e uso ou não de terapia antirretroviral) com a soropositividade para PGL-I. Dentre os pacientes infectados pelo HIV, 6% (21/350) apresentaram sorologia positiva para PGL-I e dos indivíduos não infectados pelo HIV, 29,1% (102/350) tinham PGL-I positivo. O grupo controle apresentou cerca de cinco vezes mais indivíduos com anticorpos anti-PGL-I do que o grupo infectado pelo HIV. Não houve diferença estatisticamente significativa na correlação do estado de imunossupressão do paciente com o resultado da sorologia anti-PGL-I. Houve uma menor produção de anticorpos anti-PGL-I em indivíduos infectados pelo HIV, o que pode indicar uma baixa taxa de infecção subclínica por M. leprae, ou uma baixa produtividade específica desses anticorpos, ou ambas as hipóteses. A desregulação de linfócitos B em indivíduos infectados pelo HIV pode ser a causa da baixa produção de anticorpos anti-PGL-I. Não houve correlação do estado de imunossupressão do paciente com o resultado da sorologia anti-PGL-I. Palavras-chave: hanseníase HIV coinfecção - infecção subclínica anti-PGL-I -Mycobacterium leprae

Special issue: Innovations in farming systems approaches: Introduction

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Comparative outcome assessment of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: A network meta-analysis

Introduction: Tyrosine kinase inhibition of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is the standard in the first line treatment of patients with advanced nonsmall- cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbouring EGFR activating mutations. Here we aim to discern efficacy and toxicity measures through a meta-analysis of published studies that could aid treatment selection. Materials And Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of the main randomized clinical trials evaluating the currently approved EGFR-TKIs in first-line of treatment of EGFR-positive advanced NSCLC. Cochrane guidelines were used for statistical analysis. Results: 3,179 patients were included. All EGFR TKIs showed improved outcomes with respect to ORR and PFS when compared to standard platinum-doublet chemotherapy. Comparative ORR for gefitinib, erlotinib and afatinib were 52.1%, 67.3% and 61.6% respectively. HRs for PFS were 0.62 (95% CI, 0.38-1.00) for gefitinib, 0.28 (95% CI, 0.17-0.45) for erlotinib and 0.40 (95% CI, 0.20-0.83) for afatinib. HRs for OS were not statistically significant for any agent. Conclusions: Our results suggest similar clinical efficacy and higher toxicity of Afatinib treatment. As this still remains the agent with best CSF penetration, we suggest its use is limited to patients presenting with brain metastasis. We suggest the use of Gefitinib in patients without CNS involvement. Faced with the impossibility to dose-reduce Gefitinib, Erlotinib represents a tolerable and effective alternative to Afatinib and Gefitinib if response to EGFR inhibition is considered still effective.Logistic provision from the Cearense School of Oncology, Ceará Cancer Institute, Haroldo Juaçaba Hospital, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Wirral & Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. RAM has received honoraria from Pfizer Advisory Board, Zodiac advisory board, AstraZeneca, Novartis, National Science Centre, Krakow, Poland, and educational grant from Pierre Fabre, Amgem. RAM is ad hoc consultant at Ministry of Health, Brasília, Brazil. The other authors have no conflicts of interest in this manuscript. GM has received honoraria from Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche and AstraZeneca

Data fusion and visualization towards city disaster management: Lisbon case study

INTRODUCTION: Due to the high level of unpredictability and the complexity of the information requirements, disaster management operations are information demanding. Emergency response planners should organize response operations efficiently and assign rescue teams to particular catastrophe areas with a high possibility of surviving. Making decisions becomes more difficult when the information provided is heterogeneous, out of date, and often fragmented. OBJECTIVES: In this research work a data fusion of different information sources and a data visualization process was applied to provide a big picture about the disruptive events in a city. This high-level knowledge is important for emergency management authorities. This holistic process for managing, processing, and analysing the seven Vs (Volume, Velocity, Variety, Variability, Veracity, Visualization, and Value) in order to generate actionable insights for disaster management. METHODS: A CRISP-DM methodology over smart city-data was applied. The fusion approach was introduced to merge different data sources. RESULTS: A set of visual tools in dashboards were produced to support the city municipality management process. Visualization of big picture based on different data available is the proposed work. CONCLUSION: Through this research, it was verified that there are temporal and spatial patterns of occurrences that affected the city of Lisbon, with some types of occurrences having a higher incidence in certain periods of the year, such as floods and collapses that occur when there are high levels of precipitation. On the other hand, it was verified that the downtown area of the city is the most affected area.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio