Comparative study of patients knowledge on osteoarthritis treatment options to ACR guidelines

Portuguese population is growing older, according to national data in 2011 the aging index was 129. The number of elderly population is higher than the younger; average life expectancy is 79,2 years (1). Because knee Osteoarthritis increases with age, and according to WHO 80% of these subjects will have some degree of impairment and 25% will not be able to do their daily living activities (2), OA has a big impact on the sustainability of both health and social care as populations grow older. Our goal was to compare current guidelines of managing knee OA, to the degree of information each patient has about their treatment options.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

New data on Gaidropsarus granti (Regan, 1903) (Gadiformes: Lotidae) from the Mediterranean Sea, with emphasis on its parasites

One adult male Azores rockling Gaidropsarus granti was captured by trammel nets at a depth of about 250 m near the coast of Arbatax (Sardinia, Italy) in early March 2007. This new report confirms a wide bathymetric range for this species. Macroscopic and microscopic analysis of the gonad showed a spent testis at a postspawning stage, with a weak residual spermatogenetic activity. Several body parts of Natantia (Crustacea: Decapoda) were detected in its stomach contents. Different developmental stages of 91 parasite specimens belonging to Arthropoda (Gnathiidae) and Nematoda (Anisakidae, Cystidicolidae and Philometridae) were found in its mouth and gills, and body cavity, respectively. Myxozoan spores were found in the gallbladder. Male and female nematodes of the genus Ichthyofilaria are reported for the first time from the Mediterranean Sea, and a very rare male of this genus is reported for the second time in the world. Parasitological results indicated that this Atlantic migrant probably entered the Mediterranean as an adult, suggesting for a non-indigenous species the possibilities of entering with natural parasites and/or acquiring native parasites in the introduced range

On the embedding of spacetime in five-dimensional Weyl spaces

We revisit Weyl geometry in the context of recent higher-dimensional theories of spacetime. After introducing the Weyl theory in a modern geometrical language we present some results that represent extensions of Riemannian theorems. We consider the theory of local embeddings and submanifolds in the context of Weyl geometries and show how a Riemannian spacetime may be locally and isometrically embedded in a Weyl bulk. We discuss the problem of classical confinement and the stability of motion of particles and photons in the neighbourhood of branes for the case when the Weyl bulk has the geometry of a warped product space. We show how the confinement and stability properties of geodesics near the brane may be affected by the Weyl field. We construct a classical analogue of quantum confinement inspired in theoretical-field models by considering a Weyl scalar field which depends only on the extra coordinate.Comment: 16 pages, new title and references adde

A mechanistic-empirical based overlay design method for reflective cracking

This paper describes a new and innovative mechanistically based pavement overlay design method that considers the most predominant type of overlay distress observed in the field: Reflective cracking above old cracks in the underlying pavement surface. Both dense-graded hot mix asphalt and gap-graded asphalt rubber (wet process) mixes were studied, in the laboratory and in the field, to derive the necessary mechanistic relationships and statistically based equations. The models proposed are based on a finite element model that closely approximates actual field phenomena. Many field test sections, in Arizona, California and Portugal, were studied during the course of the research. Other HMA mixes used for overlays may also be calibrated and used through the proposed method. However, the relevant mix properties of any additional materials or environmental zones must first be determined. The two mix types studied are mainly used in the desert southwest region of Arizona and California. The overlay design program is available from the Rubber Pavements Association or Arizona Department of Transportation in the form of an Excel spreadsheet with an easy-to-use visual basic computer program (macro)

Polyion Adsorption onto Catanionic Surfaces. A Monte Carlo Study

The adsorption of a single and negatively charged polyion with varying flexibility onto a surface carrying both negative and positive charges representing a charged membrane surface has been investigated by using a simple model employing Monte Carlo simulations. The polyion was represented by a sequence of negatively charged hard spheres connected with harmonic bonds. The charged surface groups were also represented by charged hard spheres, and they were positioned on a hard surface slightly protruding into the solution. The surface charges were either frozen in a liquidlike structure or laterally mobile. With a large excess of positive surface charges, the classical picture of a strongly adsorbed polyion with an extended and flat configuration emerged. However, adsorption also appeared at a net neutral surface or at a weakly negatively charged surface, and at these conditions the adsorption was stronger with a flexible polyion as compared to a semiflexible one, two features not appearing in simpler models containing homogeneously charged surfaces. The presence of charged surface patches (frozen surface charges) and the ability of polarization of the surface charges (mobile surface charges) are the main reasons for the enhanced adsorption. The stronger adsorption with the flexible chain is caused by its greater ability to spatially correlate with the surface charges

Inducing charges and currents from extra dimensions

In a particular variant of Kaluza-Klein theory, the so-called induced-matter theory (IMT), it is shown that any configuration of matter may be geometrically induced from a five-dimensional vacuum space. By using a similar approach we show that any distribution of charges and currents may also be induced from a five-dimensional vacuum space. Whereas in the case of IMT the geometry is Riemannian and the fundamental equations are the five-dimensional Einstein equations in vacuum, here we consider a Minkowskian geometry and the five-dimensional Maxwell equations in vacuum.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted for publication in Modern Physics Letters

Aspectos gerais da tectónica alpina no Algarve

The study of the tectonic strutures affecting the mesozoic and cenozoic deposits of Algarve's basin allows us to recognize the following phases of the Alpine orogeny: Jurassic (Upper Triassic at least)-Lower Cretaceous N-S distension; N-S compression during the setting-up of the Monchique syenite dome at the uppermost Cretaceous; Paleogene compression (?) (only locally? - at the Albufeira salt dome); Lower Miocene N-S distension; Upper Burdigalian to Lower Langhian N-S and E-W distension; N-S or NNW-SSE compression after the Middle Miocene; E-W compression after the Upper Tortonian; N-S compression during the Quaternary. NE-SW fractures affecting the Paleozoic basement are related with the first distension phases. The mesozoic N-S distension are the main cause of the two E-W flexures so far recognized. A tectonic inversion event did occur after the setting up of the Monchique syenite. If, the Lower Cretaceous Lower Miocene Albufeira's unconformity, is a local effect of halokinesis then, the true tectonic inversion of the Algarve basin, did occur in the Middle Miocene. These events correlate well with those knewn at Southern Spain and Morocco