Uma Avaliação Prospectiva do Transplante Renal Versus Hemodiálise: na Perspectiva Social, Qual a Melhor Modalidade Terapêutica?

Background: Economic evaluations help health authorities facing budget constraints. This study compares the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and costs in patient subgroups on haemodialysis (HD) and renal transplantation (KT). Methods: In a prospective study with follow-up of 1-3 years, we performed a costutility analysis of KT vs. HD, adopting a lifetime horizon. A societal perspective was taken. Costs for organ procurement, KT eligibility, transplant surgery and follow-up of living donors were included. Key clinical events were recorded. HRQOL was assessed using the EuroQol instrument. Results: The HRQOL remained stable on HD patients. After KT, mean utility score improved at 3 months while mean EQ-VAS scores showed a sustained improvement. Mean annual cost for HD was 32,567.57€. Mean annual costs for KT in the year-1 and in subsequent years were, 60,210.09€ and 12,956.77€ respectively. Cost for initial hospitalization averaged 18,740.74€. HLA-mismatches increased costs by 75% for initial hospitalization (p < 0.001) and 41% in the year-1 (p < 0.05), and duplicate the risk of readmission in the year-1 (p < 0.05). The incremental costutility ratio was 5,534.46€/QALY, increasing 35% when costs for organ procurement were added. KT costs were 41,541.63€ more but provided additional 7.51 QALY. Conclusions: The KT is cost-effective compared with HD. Public funding should reflect the value created by the intervention and adapt to the organ demand

How do families represent the functions of deliberate self-harm? A comparison between the social representations from Adolescents and Their Parents

Research has recognized the importance of understanding the social representations about the functions of deliberate self-harm, particularly in the context of clinical intervention. In addition, parents can play a relevant role in the rehabilitation of adolescents with these behaviors. However, there are few studies that focused on the description and comparison of the social representations about these functions, particularly in families. This article aimed to analyze the social representations about the functions of deliberate self-harm from adolescents and their parents. We developed two sets of analyses: first we compared the social representations from adolescents without a history of deliberate self-harm and their parents, and secondly we compared the social representations about the functions of deliberate self-harm from adolescents with a history of these behaviors and their parents' social representations. Results revealed significant differences between both groups of families, implying that the groups of participants represent the functions of deliberate self-harm differently. Overall, parents emphasized interpersonal functions and devalued intrapersonal functions. These differences were heightened in the families of adolescents with deliberate self-harm. The present article provides important insights regarding the social representations about the functions of deliberate self-harm and the differences between parents' social representations and their children experiences and social representations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The North Atlantic oscillation and European vegetation dynamics

The relationship between vegetation greenness and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is assessed over Europe. The study covers the 21-year period from 1982 to 2002 and is based on monthly composites of the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Brightness Temperature from the Global Inventory Monitoring and Modelling System (GIMMS) as well as on monthly precipitation from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC). A systematic analysis is first performed of point correlation fields over the 21-year period between the winter NAO index and spring and summer NDVI, followed by an assessment of the vegetation response to precipitation and temperature conditions in winter, over two contrasting regions, namely the Iberian Peninsula and Northeastern Europe. Finally, the impact of NAO on vegetation dynamics over the two regions is evaluated by studying the corresponding annual cycles of NDVI and comparing their behaviour for years associated with opposite NAO phases. Over the Iberian Peninsula there is strong evidence that positive (negative) values of winter NAO induce low (high) vegetation activity in the following spring and summer seasons. This feature is mainly associated with the impact of NAO on winter precipitation, together with the strong dependence of spring and summer NDVI on water availability during the previous winter. Northeastern Europe shows a different behaviour, with positive (negative) values of winter NAO inducing high (low) values of NDVI in spring, but low (high) values of NDVI in summer. This behaviour mainly results from the strong impact of NAO on winter temperature, associated with the critical dependence of vegetation growth on the combined effect of warm conditions and water availability during the winter seaso

Numerical simulation of thin steel fiber self-compacting concrete structures

Steel Fiber Reinforced Self Compacting Concrete (SFRSCC) was developed and applied on the manufacture of structural façade panels composed of a grid ribbed system covered by a layer of 30 mm thickness. Panel prototypes of this structural system were tested using loading configurations that promote the flexural and the punching failure modes in order to assess the benefits of fiber reinforcement to the flexural and shear resistance of thin SFRSCC structural systems. A smeared multi-fixed crack model, implemented into a FEM-based computer program, was used to simulate the deformational behavior of the tested panel prototypes up to their failure. The fracture parameters characterizing the SFRSCC post-cracking behavior were obtained from inverse analysis, using the data derived from three point notched beam tests. The punching failure mode was well captured by adopting a softening diagram for both out-of-plane shear components.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - POCTI/ECM/57518/2004 “FICOFIRE - High performance fiber reinforced concrete of enhanced fire resistance”, bolsa de doutouramento SFRH/BD/23326/2005

Effect of Scan Strategies and Use of Support Structures on Surface Quality and Hardness of L-PBF AlSi10Mg Parts

Additive manufacturing allows for a great degree of design freedom and is rapidly becoming a mainstream manufacturing process. However, as in all manufacturing processes, it has its limitations and specificities. Equipping engineers with this knowledge allows for a higher degree of optimization, extracting the most out of this technology. Therefore, a specific part design was devised and created via L-PBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) using AlSi10Mg powder. Certain parameters were varied to identify the influence on material density, hardness, roughness, residual stress and microstructures. It was found that on heat treated parts laser pattern strategy is one of the most influential aspects, showing that chessboard and stripes 67° improved outcome; average Ra roughness varied between 8–12 µm, residual stress was higher on vertical surfaces than horizontal surfaces, with the combination of support structures and stripes 67° strategies generating the lowest residual stress (205 MPa on a lateral/vertical face), hardness was non-orientation dependent and larger on samples with chessboard fabrication strategies, while microstructures were composed of α–Al dendrites surrounded by Si particles. The distribution and grain size of the microstructure is dependent on location regarding melt pool and HAZ area. Furthermore, Al–Mg oxides were encountered on the surface, along with pores generating from lack of fusion.The authors would like to acknowledge the Hypermetal Additive Manufacturing for their contribution with some additive manufactured samples and materials, as well as ONA Electro-Erosión Lda. for the use of their electro erosion cutting equipment, used for the separation of certain samples from the build plate. The Authors also would like to thanks to Rui Rocha from CEMUP, due to his sharp critical analysis of SEM results and his help in achieving the best SEM pictures. A.B.P would like to acknowledge the projects UIDB/00481/2020 and UIDP/00481/2020—FCT—Fundação para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia; and CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-022083—Centro Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Centro2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of scan strategies and use of support structures on surface quality and hardness of L-PBF AlSi10Mg parts

Additive manufacturing allows for a great degree of design freedom and is rapidly becoming a mainstream manufacturing process. However, as in all manufacturing processes, it has its limitations and specificities. Equipping engineers with this knowledge allows for a higher degree of optimization, extracting the most out of this technology. Therefore, a specific part design was devised and created via L-PBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) using AlSi10Mg powder. Certain parameters were varied to identify the influence on material density, hardness, roughness, residual stress and microstructures. It was found that on heat treated parts laser pattern strategy is one of the most influential aspects, showing that chessboard and stripes 67° improved outcome; average Ra roughness varied between 8-12 μm, residual stress was higher on vertical surfaces than horizontal surfaces, with the combination of support structures and stripes 67° strategies generating the lowest residual stress (205 MPa on a lateral/vertical face), hardness was non-orientation dependent and larger on samples with chessboard fabrication strategies, while microstructures were composed of α-Al dendrites surrounded by Si particles. The distribution and grain size of the microstructure is dependent on location regarding melt pool and HAZ area. Furthermore, Al-Mg oxides were encountered on the surface, along with pores generating from lack of fusion

Parâmetros genéticos de caprinos da raça Saanen nascidos no Brasil de 1979 a 2009.

Resumo: A seleção permite que as características desejáveis sejam transmitidas para seus descendentes e que esses venham a produzir de forma eficiente, porém não existem trabalhos com dados oficiais no Brasil em que houvessem sido estimados os parâmetros genéticos das características biométricas e de tipo em caprinos. Foram avaliadas as características de 1243 caprinos da raça saanen, sendo 197 machos e 1046 fêmeas, nascidos de 1979 a 2009, com os seguintes parâmetros a serem estimados: perímetro torácico, comprimento corporal, altura na cernelha, altura, largura e comprimento da garupa, além das pontuações das principais características que definem o padrão racial e a aptidão do animal em uma escala de 0 a 100 pontos, incluindo a nota final e suas subdivisões, como característica racial, paleta e linha superior, membros e pés, tipo leiteiro, capacidade de corpo, úbere, ligamento traseiro e dianteiro, textura do úbere e tetos. Os componentes de variância foram estimados pelo método da Máxima Verossimilhança Restrita em análises multicaracterísticas incluindo todas as características simultaneamente. Foram encontrados valores de baixos a altos para as estimativas de herdabilidade das características morfofuncionais que variaram de 0,08 a 0,45 e correlações genéticas e fenotípicas de moderadas a altas, evidenciando a existência de variabilidade genética aditiva entre os animais e de possibilidade de resposta correlacionada. Genetic parameters of Saanen goats born in Brazil from 1979 to 2009. Abstract: The selection allows the desirable traits are transmitted to their offspring and that these will produce efficiently, but there are no jobs to official data in Brazil that had been estimated genetic parameters of biometric traits and type in goats. Were evaluated the traits of Saanen goats in 1243, being 197 males and 1046 females born from 1979 to 2009, with the following parameters to be estimated: heart girth, body length, wither height, height, width and length of rump addition to the scores of the main traits that define the breed standard and the suitability of the animal on a scale of 0 to 100 points, including the final score and its subdivisions, such as racial traits, shoulder and topline, limbs and feet, like dairy, capacity body, udder, linking front and rear, texture of the udder and teats. Variance components were estimated by Restricted Maximum Likelihood analyzes multicharacteristics including all features simultaneously. Values were found for low to high heritability estimates of morphological and functional traits that ranged from 0.08 to 0.45 and genetic and phenotypic correlations of moderate to high, showing the existence of additive genetic variability between animals and the possibility of response correlated

The Possibility of Thermal Instability in Early-Type Stars Due to Alfven Waves

It was shown by dos Santos et al. the importance of Alfv\'en waves to explain the winds of Wolf-Rayet stars. We investigate here the possible importance of Alfv\'en waves in the creation of inhomogeneities in the winds of early-type stars. The observed infrared emission (at the base of the wind) of early-type stars is often larger than expected. The clumping explains this characteristic in the wind, increasing the mean density and hence the emission measure, making possible to understand the observed infrared, as well as the observed enhancement in the blue wing of the $H_\alpha$ line. In this study, we investigate the formation of these clumps a via thermal instability. The heat-loss function used, $H(T,n)$, includes physical processes such as: emission of (continuous and line) recombination radiation; resonance line emission excited by electron collisions; thermal bremsstrahlung; Compton heating and cooling; and damping of Alfv\'en waves. As a result of this heat-loss function we show the existence of two stable equilibrium regions. The stable equilibrium region at high temperature is the diffuse medium and at low temperature the clumps. Using this reasonable heat-loss function, we show that the two stable equilibrium regions can coexist over a narrow range of pressures describing the diffuse medium and the clumps.Comment: 21 pages (psfig.sty), 5 figures (included), ApJ accepted. Also available at http://www.iagusp.usp.br/preprints/preprint.htm

Morphological traits and type of dairy goats registered in Brazil from 1976 to 2009.

Abstract: Data from 2439 goats of the Saanen, Alpine, Anglo Nubian and Toggenburg breeds recorded from 1976 to 2009 by the Association of Goats and Sheep Breeders of Minas Gerais were used in principal component analysis. After consistency of data, six morphological variables (thorax perimeter, body length, withers height, height, width and length of the rump) and 12 variables related to breed standard score and fitness (breed characteristic, head, palette and topline, feet and legs, dairy type, body capacity, udder, rear and front ligament, udder texture, teat and final score) were analyzed. Based on the magnitude of the eigenvalue (lower than 0.7), eleven variables considered redundant were discarded, resulting in reduced costs of technician labor to evaluate the animals. Maintenance of records on height, length, rump width, breed characteristic, dairy type, front ligament and udder texture is recommended