Cancro do colo do útero: que rastreio?

O cancro do colo do útero é um dos cancros evitáveis mais frequente nas mulheres, Ferlay (2004) e Parkin(2005). O padrão epidemiológico da doença, caracterizado por um período longo entre a detecção das primeiras lesões e a instalação da doença, favorece a sua inclusão em programas de rastreio organizado, por serem custo-eficientes e terem ganhos de saúde associados, ver Anttila (2004), Castellsague (2006) e Koutsky (1998). O presente estudo teve como objectivo auxiliar os elementos da Comissão de Rastreio do Cancro do Colo do Útero na Região Norte na tomada de decisões relativas aos aspectos mais controversos dos rastreios ao cancro do colo do útero: limite de idade das mulheres rastreadas, intervalo entre exames e método utilizado. Assim, construiu-se um modelo matemático, com o intuito de simular os impactos económicos e de saúde, das combinações das várias alternativas de rastreio. Por fim, foi feita uma análise custo-benefício das soluções encontradas e determinou-se a solução, i.e. a opção de rastreio, mais vantajosa.Cervical cancer is one of the most frequent avoidable cancers in women, Ferlay (2004) and Parkin(2005). The natural history of the disease, characterized for a long period between the detection of the rst injuries and invasive cancer, favours its inclusion in organized screening programs, since they are cost-e ective and have clear advantages for the health of the population, see Anttila (2004), Castellsague (2006) and Koutsky (1998). The aim of this study is to construct a mathematical model that can help the elements of the Commission delegated for planning the screening program, to decide about the most controversial aspects: target population, interval between examinations and method to be used. The mathematical model allows to simulate the economical and health impact of all the possible solutions. Finally, a cost-bene t analysis of the combined screening alternatives was done to determine the solution, i.e, the more advantageous screening program

the case of African Portuguese speaking countries

INTRODUCTION: Ebola epidemics have shown to have significant impacts on many aspects of healthcare systems. African countries have been facing many difficulties while addressing Ebola epidemics, moreover due to both lack of resources and fragmented involvement of national and international entities. The participation of multiple organizations has created serious problems of coordination of aid and the operation of that aid on the ground. This paper aims at addressing the impact of Ebola epidemics on African health systems, with a special focus on the definition of impact mitigation guidelines and the role of resilience. The example of Portuguese speaking countries is presented. METHODS: A combination of literature review and case study methods are used. A literature review on Ebola outbreak impact on health systems will provide information to define a set of guidelines for healthcare services response to Ebola. The role of cooperation in providing additional resilience is described. Finally a case study focusing on the Portuguese collaboration and intervention in African Portuguese Speaking Countries (PALOP) is presented, as an example how the international community can provide additional resilience. RESULTS: The existing knowledge is very helpful to guide both the preparation and the coordination of Ebola preparedness interventions. Additional resilience can be provided by international cooperation. CONCLUSION: In addition to international concrete support in times of crisis, to have a regional strategy of creating (multi-national) teams to rapidly implement an intervention while establishing better regional capacity to have sufficient resources to support the "resilience" required of the health system.publishersversionpublishe

Low-Complexity Equalisers for Offset Constellations in Massive MIMO Schemes

This work was supported in part by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program of the Portugal 2020 Framework, in part by the Regional OP Centro under Grant POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030588, in part by the Regional OP Lisboa under Grant Lisboa-01-0145-FEDER-03058, in part by the FCT/MEC through national funds of MASSIVE5G Project under Grant SAICT-45-2017-02 and PES3N Project under Grant 2018-SAICT-45-2017-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030629, in part by the UID/EEE/50008/2019 Project, and in part by the FCT Ph.D. under Grant SFRH/BD/108522/2015.Massive multi-input-multi-output (m-MIMO) schemes require low-complexity implementations at both the transmitter and the receiver side, especially for systems operation at millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. In this paper, we consider the use of offset constellations in m-MIMO systems operating at mmWave frequencies. These signals are designed to have either an almost constant envelope or be decomposed as the sum of constant-envelope signals, making them compatible with strongly nonlinear power amplifiers, which can have low-implementation complexity and high amplification efficient, making them particularly interesting for mmWave communications. We design and evaluate low-complexity frequency-domain receivers for offset signals. It is shown that the proposed receivers can have excellent performance/complexity trade-offs in m-MIMO scenarios, making them particularly interesting for future wireless systems operating at mmWave bands.publishersversionpublishe

Sulfonic Acid-Functionalized (Bio)Materials as Catalysts for Efficient Amide Bond Synthesis

Funding Information: The authors thank Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FC&T) for project PTDC/BII‐BIO/30884/2017 and EXPL/BII‐BIO/0436/2021 and also for the researcher contract 2021.03255.CEECIND (M.C.C) and 2020.01614.CEECIND/CP1596/CT0007 (A.F.P.). Authors also thank the support by the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry – LAQV, which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020) and i3 N (LA/P/0037/2020, UIDP/50025/2020 and UIDB/50025/2020 . The National NMR Facility is supported by FC&T (ROTEIRO/0031/2013 – PINFRA/22161/2016, co‐financed by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI, and PORL and FC&T through PIDDAC) and CERMAX through project 022162. We thank Prof. Dr. Carlos A. M. Afonso from the Faculty of Pharmacy, ULisboa for the scientific discussions on the experiments carried out with furfuryl alcohol derivatives. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. ChemCatChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.Sulfonic acid carbon-(bio)based and natural clays-based catalysts were prepared and investigated for the first time as heterogeneous catalysts for amide bond synthesis by a Ritter reaction. The different SO3H-catalysts were screened using benzyl alcohol and acetonitrile as model substrates, and MWCNT-CSP revealed to be an efficient catalyst, affording the amide in 75 % yield. The practical utility of the catalysts was demonstrated by a diverse range of amides, obtained from alcohols and nitriles, in moderate to good yields. Biomass derived platform alcohols, such as 5-HMF and furfuryl alcohol, were also tested as potential building blocks for the synthesis of biopolymers. The SO3H-catalysts revealed to be a highly efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to the conventional acid catalysts commonly used in the Ritter reaction.publishersversionpublishe

Biosorption of hexavalent chromium based on modified Y zeolites obtained by alkali-treatment

The structural modification of external surface of NaY was investigated in order to enhance efficient biosorption systems consisting of a bacterial biofilm, Arthrobacter viscosus, supported on that zeolite, for removing hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions. The supported bacterial biofilm reduces Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and this cation is then retained in the zeolite by ion exchange. NaY zeolite was modified by alkali-treatments using NaOH 2.0 M, with two different contact periods of time between the zeolite and the alkaline solutions, resulting in NaYA and in NaYB. The biosorbents supported on the modified NaY zeolite were tested in solutions with low concentration of chromium. The results showed that the modification of external surface of NaY zeolite allows an efficient Cr removal, and the maximum removal efficiency was observed for NaYA sample that was submitted to a smoother chemical treatment.The authors acknowledge to Dr. A.S. Azevedo for collecting the powder diffraction data and Dr. C Ribeiro, from Departamento de Ciencias da Terra of Universidade do Minho, for chemical analyses. This work was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT-Portugal), under program POCTI-SFA-3-686. H.F. and B.S. gratefully acknowledge FCT-Portugal for the PhD grants

A Machine Learning App for Monitoring Physical Therapy at Home

Shoulder rehabilitation is a process that requires physical therapy sessions to recover the mobility of the affected limbs. However, these sessions are often limited by the availability and cost of specialized technicians, as well as the patient’s travel to the session locations. This paper presents a novel smartphone-based approach using a pose estimation algorithm to evaluate the quality of the movements and provide feedback, allowing patients to perform autonomous recovery sessions. This paper reviews the state of the art in wearable devices and camera-based systems for human body detection and rehabilitation support and describes the system developed, which uses MediaPipe to extract the coordinates of 33 key points on the patient’s body and compares them with reference videos made by professional physiotherapists using cosine similarity and dynamic time warping. This paper also presents a clinical study that uses QTM, an optoelectronic system for motion capture, to validate the methods used by the smartphone application. The results show that there are statistically significant differences between the three methods for different exercises, highlighting the importance of selecting an appropriate method for specific exercises. This paper discusses the implications and limitations of the findings and suggests directions for future research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ocular drug delivery from contact lenses: mimetizing the hydrodynamic conditions of the eye

Poster presented at the 4th Congress on Innovation in Drug Delivery Site-Specific Drug Delivery (IDD2016). Antibes-Juan-les-Pins, France, 25-28 September 2016N/

Direct and indirect effects of tree canopy facilitation in the recruitment of M editerranean oaks

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106739/1/jpe12189.pd

Effects of conductive and non-conductive materials on the activity of a hydrogenotrophic methanogen

Several conductive materials (CM), such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), activated carbon (AC), and magnetite, have been reported to mediate interspecies electron transfer in methanogenic environments. However, CNT also accelerated methane production (MP) of pure cultures of methanogens. We hypothesize that other CM and also non-CM may affect the methanogenic activity of pure cultures. For that purpose, we incubated the hydrogenotrophic methanogen, Methanobacteriun formicicum strain DSM 1535T, with AC, zeolite (Zeo), sand and glass beads (at 0.5 g/L), and followed MP. All materials reduced lag phases preceding the MP, and the time for complete conversion of H2/CO2 to methane. The best results were obtained with Zeo, since total hydrogen conversion occurred in less than 5 days (instead of 8 days as in the control incubated without materials). Approximately 5 days with sand, and 6 days with glass beads and AC, were necessary to achieve the complete conversion. The lag phases with AC were quite short (1 day) when compared with the control assay without materials (5 days). The initial MP (determined during the first 3 days of incubation) was improved 16 times with Zeo and 11 times with AC, when compared with the cultures incubated without materials. The results show that there is not a direct relationship between conductivity and the improvement of methanogenic activity. Other physicochemical properties of the materials might be related with the beneficial effects towards methanogens.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Zeolite stimulates the activity of microbial enrichments converting butyrate to methane

Conductive materials have been tested as a strategy to improve methane production (MP) in anaerobic digestion (AD) processes1,2. The effect of zeolite (0.5 g/L) towards microbial enrichments converting butyrate (10 mmol/L) to methane was investigated and compared with a microbial enrichment in the absence of the material. The enrichments were initiated with granular anaerobic sludge from a brewery WWTP as inoculum. Incubations were carried out under strict anaerobic conditions (at 37 °C) and periodically transferred to fresh medium. The results showed that, after an initial adaptation period (3 transfers), the presence of zeolite significantly accelerated the total conversion of butyrate to methane, since it took approximately 30d with zeolite and around 45d without zeolite. However, both enrichment cultures after extended adaptation (more than 8 transfers) behaved similarly, degrading butyrate in approximately 15d. Nevertheless, zeolite addition to active butyrate enrichment cultures without previous contact with zeolite, slightly accelerated MP, while the highly adapted zeolite-enrichment decreased activity when incubated without zeolite. Thus, the presence of zeolite showed to stimulate the microbial activity enhancing MP from butyrate degradation. This material possess natural ion-exchange properties, absorptive capacity and could function as a support for biomass which makes its application very attractive to AD processes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio