356 research outputs found
Beliefs and traditions related to a child´s first year of life : a study of the Northwest of Portugal
In this paper we propose an approach to investigate, in the North-west of Portugal, the
parents’ behaviour at birth and during the first year of life of their children. We compare
the heritage, specifically the beliefs and traditions, with the changes that resulted from
the recent and deep cultural transformations that have taken place in Portugal in the last
few decades. In parallel, we tried to determine if the parents’ behaviours, based on beliefs
and traditions, can affect the children’s health. We based our investigation on
standardized interviews with 76 mothers of one-year-old children (born between January
and December 2001) who lived in two parishes of Vizela city. This is a territory where
a more traditional way of life prevails than in other territories of the centre and south of
the country, where there is a strong attachment for religious and social values and where
the influence of the ancestral traditions is still alive. The paper concludes that cultural
heritage can have important impact on individual health. Health professionals, who
work in primary care and in hospitals, must be aware of the responsibility they have to
change this scenario.(undefined
Funcionamento intestinal e a relação com a independĂŞncia funcional de indivĂduos com lesĂŁo medular
Does the Establishment of Sustainable Use Reserves Affect Fire Management in the Humid Tropics?
Tropical forests are experiencing a growing fire problem driven by climatic change, agricultural expansion and forest degradation. Protected areas are an important feature of forest protection strategies, and sustainable use reserves (SURs) may be reducing fire prevalence since they promote sustainable livelihoods and resource management. However, the use of fire in swidden agriculture, and other forms of land management, may be undermining the effectiveness of SURs in meeting their conservation and sustainable development goals. We analyse MODIS derived hot pixels, TRMM rainfall data, Terra-Class land cover data, socio-ecological data from the Brazilian agro-census and the spatial extent of rivers and roads to evaluate whether the designation of SURs reduces fire occurrence in the Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, we ask (1) a. Is SUR location (i.e., de facto) or (1) b. designation (i.e. de jure) the driving factor affecting performance in terms of the spatial density of fires?, and (2), Does SUR creation affect fire management (i.e., the timing of fires in relation to previous rainfall)? We demonstrate that pre-protection baselines are crucial for understanding reserve performance. We show that reserve creation had no discernible impact on fire density, and that fires were less prevalent in SURs due to their characteristics of sparser human settlement and remoteness, rather than their status de jure. In addition, the timing of fires in relation to rainfall, indicative of local fire management and adherence to environmental law, did not improve following SUR creation. These results challenge the notion that SURs promote environmentally sensitive fire-management, and suggest that SURs in Amazonia will require special attention if they are to curtail future accidental wildfires, particularly as plans to expand the road infrastructure throughout the region are realised. Greater investment to support improved fire management by farmers living in reserves, in addition to other fire users, will be necessary to help ameliorate these threats
Biased decision making in realistic extra-procedural nuclear control room scenarios
In normal operations and emergency situations, operators of nuclear control rooms rely on procedures to guide their decision making. However, in emergency situations, where several interacting problems can cause unpredictable adverse effects, these procedures may be insufficient in guiding operators to safe shutdown of the power plant. Little is known about the decision making strategies that operators employ in these extra-procedural situations. To address this, a realistic simulation study was conducted with five crews of active, licensed nuclear operators to see the behavioural patterns that occur when procedures are not sufficient. This paper, a re-analysis of a dataset collected for a different study, investigates how the design and existence of procedures influence, and possibly bias, decision making strategies. We found evidence that operators were affected by confirmation bias, and that, in some cases, the mismatch between their home power plant and the simulated power plant made them commit errors due to misapplied expertise. We further found that this effect was amplified by the existence and design of the procedures used. Based on these findings, we suggest that designers may improve safety by creating procedures that bear the risks of these biases in mind, or by specifically aiming to debias the users. Avenues for debiasing through design are discussed
INVENTORY OF MOSQUITOES (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) IN CONSERVATION UNITS IN BRAZILIAN TROPICAL DRY FORESTS
Distribuição espacial dos casos de leishmaniose tegumentar americana no municĂpio de Campinas, Estado de SĂŁo Paulo, no perĂodo de 1992 a 2003
Intracameral bevacizumab and mitomycin C Trabeculectomy for eyes with neovascular glaucoma: a case series
The purpose of this study was to describe the surgical outcomes and safety of intracameral bevacizumab during trabeculectomy in eyes with neovascular glaucoma. Pilot study included four eyes (four patients) with refractory neovascular glaucoma submitted to fornix-based trabeculectomy with adjunctive use of bevacizumab in the anterior chamber during the procedure. Patients were previously treated with panretinal photocoagulation as standard therapy. Variables evaluated were intraocular pressure, bleb appearance, iris neovascularization, intraoperative/postoperative complications, and visual outcomes. No intraoperative complication was observed. The mean follow-up period was 12.75 (range, 12–15 months). All eyes showed significant intraocular pressure control postoperatively. Iris neovascularization reduced significantly within 1 month after surgery. Mild anterior chamber inflammation was observed during follow-up in all eyes. No significant postoperative complication was observed, and no patient presented visual acuity deterioration. Intracameral bevacizumab may be used as an adjunctive therapy during trabeculectomy in eyes with neovascular glaucoma
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