Comparison of three assays for total and free PSA using hybritech and WHO calibrations

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 International Institute of Anticancer Research. All rights reserved.Background/Aim: Lack of interchangeability between prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assays could have a clinical impact. We compared PSA assays from different manufacturers and calibrations. Patients and Methods: A total of 233 men who underwent prostate biopsy (PSA: 2-10 ng/ml; Beckman Coulter Access® Hybritech® as reference) were enrolled. Total (tPSA) and free PSA (fPSA) were also measured using the Roche cobas® and the Abbott Architect® methods. Results: Roche tPSA values were ≈ 1% higher than Beckman, while Abbott values were ~5% lower. Roche had the highest diagnostic sensitivity (92%) compared to Beckman Coulter (87%) and Abbott (85%). Roche fPSA was ≈3% lower and Abbott ≈17% higher than that of Beckman. For the percentage of fPSA, Roche had the highest sensitivity (98%). Conclusion: Roche cobas® and Beckman Coulter Access® Hybritech® tPSA were almost interchangeable. While the agreement was acceptable for tPSA, this did not happen with fPSA and greater efforts for harmonization are required.publishersversionpublishe

Kinematic and kinetic study of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit movements towards a human-like skeletal model

The movements of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit are frequently executed on daily life. To develop robotic assistive devices for people with mobility problems, it is important to study how a healthy human performs these tasks. The goal of this study is to present a mathematical model based on acquired kinematic and kinetic data that represents a healthy human body performing these movements. The results revealed that the movements of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit have symmetric ground reaction force, joint angles and torques. The joint angles and the torques are very similar between each leg. The knee and the hip show more variation of the angle and achieve higher values of torque in comparison to the ankle. Although, ankle has higher torque during standing position. The ground reaction force shows that it is necessary to create an additional force to the weight force to achieve the final position of the movement. The acquired data describe as expected the sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit movements and can be used, in the future, to validate the presented model.This work has been supported in part by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) with the Reference Scholarship under Grant SFRH/BD/108309/2015, and part by the FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte and national funds from FCT with the project SmartOs -Controlo Inteligente de um Sistema Ortotico Ativo e Autonomo-under Grant NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030386, and by the FEDER Funds through the COMPETE 2020-Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI)-with the Reference Project under Grant POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941

Feedback-error learning for gait rehabilitation using a powered knee orthosis: first advances

Powered assistive devices have been playing a major role in gait rehabilitation. Hereby, the development of time-effective control strategies to manage such devices is a key concern to rehabilitation engineering. This paper presents a real-time Feedback-Error Learning control strategy, by means of an Artificial Neural Network as a feedforward controller to acquire the inverse model of the plant, and a Proportional-Integral-Derivative feedback controller to guarantee stability and handle with disturbances. A Powered Knee Orthosis was used as the assistive device and a trajectory generator assistive strategy, previously acquired through an inertial system, was applied. A validation with one subject walking in a treadmill at 1 km/h with the Powered Knee Orthosis controlled by the Feedback-Error Learning control was performed. Evidences on the control behavior presented good performances, with the Artificial Neural Network taking 90 seconds to learn the inverse model, which enabled a decrease in the angular position error by 75% and eliminated the phase delay, when compared to solo Proportional-Integral-Derivative feedback controller. Robust reactions to external disturbances were also achieved. The implemented Feedback-Error Learning strategy proves to be a time-effective asset to control assistive powered devices.This work has been supported in part by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) with the Reference Scholarship under Grant SFRH/BD/108309/2015, and part by the FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte and national funds from FCT with the project SmartOs -Controlo Inteligente de um Sistema Ortotico Ativo e Autonomo-under Grant NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030386, and by the FEDER Funds through the COMPETE 2020-Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI)-with the Reference Project under Grant POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941 and supported by grant RYC-2014-16613 by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

Screening chickpea resistance to water deficits: the yield perspective.

Screening a wide range of germplasm from our major crops (including legumes) to search for genetic variation of traits involved in stress resistance is extremely relevant in the context of predicted increase in aridity in several areas of the world, including the Mediterranean (1,2). On the other hand, the keystone of ‘crop drought resistance’ relies on the effective use by the crop of a limiting water supply (3,4). This can be achieved by choosing the appropriate genotype and/or agronomical practices such as the adjustment of crop phenology to its environment or the use of deficit irrigation. In the framework of the EU project KBBE-2008-212337 ‘Sustainable water use securing food production in dry areas of the Mediterranean region (SWUP-MED)’ we are studying a wide range of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) accessions in two sites (South Portugal and Syria/ICARDA) in what concerns yield potential under limiting and non-limiting soil water and the physiological traits underlying those responses. Chickpea is a widely grown grain legume offering high-quality protein, besides providing an input of N2 into the soil and a disease break in rotation with other crops. However, yield is still low in many of the growing regions, especially when terminal drought is likely to occur (5). We have identified a significant genetic variability in what concerns yield (from 1000 to above 2000kg. ha-1 under rainfed conditions), harvest index (from 25 to 60%) and plant water status under similar available soil water. Phenological differences may play an important role in explaining yield differences in the accessions studied. In addition to yield we will study seed quality traits as affected by the genotype and the environment. Our results will be used to model crop water requirements, predict yields and support breeding efforts (6)

Biochemical network analysis of protein-protein interactions to follow-up T1 bladder cancer patients

PM003/2016). LBC, JLC, CL, RB, and HMS acknowledge the funding provided by the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry LAQV which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, through the projects UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020. HMS acknowledges the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry-LAQV (LA/P/0008/2020) funded by FCT/MCTES for his research contract. LBC thanks the FCT/MCTES for his Ph.D. grant (SFRH/BD/144222/2019). The mass spectrometry proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium via the PRIDE [30] partner repository with the data set number PXD026784. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The AuthorsBladder cancer (BCa) is a prevalent disease with a high risk of aggressive recurrence in T1-stage patients. Despite the efforts to anticipate recurrence, a reliable method has yet to be developed. In this work, we employed high-resolution mass spectrometry to compare the urinary proteome of T1-stage BCa patients with recurring versus non-recurring disease to uncover actionable clinical information predicting recurrence. All patients were diagnosed with T1-stage bladder cancer between the ages of 51 and 91, and urine samples were collected before medical intervention. Our results suggest that the urinary myeloperoxidase to cubilin ratio could be used as a new tool for predicting recurrence and that dysregulation of the inflammatory and immune systems may be a key driver of disease worsening. Furthermore, we identified neutrophil degranulation and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) as key pathways in the progression of T1-stage BCa. We propose that proteomics follow-up of the inflammatory and immune systems may be useful for monitoring the effectiveness of therapy. Significance: This article describes how proteomics can be used to characterize tumor aggressiveness in patients with the same diagnosis of bladder cancer (BCa). LC-MS/MS in combination with label free quantification (LFQ) were used to explore potential protein and pathway level changes related to the aggressiveness of the disease in 13 and 17 recurring and non-recurring T1 stage BCa patients. We have shown that the MPO/CUBN protein ratio is a candidate for a urine prognosis tool in BCa. Furthermore, we identify dysregulation of inflammation process as a driver for BCa recurrence and progression. Moreover, we propose using proteomics to track the effectiveness of therapy in the inflammatory and immune systems.publishersversionpublishe

Validation of TerraClass mapping for the Municipality of Paragominas state of Pará

This work aims to evaluate the TerraClass mapping for the year 2014, in the municipality of Paragominas, State of Pará. The validation was made by comparing the mapping with the observations found in the field. Images of the Satétile Landsat-8, OLI sensor of the year 2014, path/row 222/062, 222/063, 223/062 and 223/063 were used to aid in the field. Using this data it was possible to analyze the main representative classes in the area, including agriculture, urban area, forest, clean pasture, dirty pasture, reforestation, regeneration with pasture and secondary vegetation. The secondary vegetation presented 2,198.16 km², clean pasture with 3,332.29 km², agriculture with 896.75 km² and the forest occupying 54.21% of the total area of Paragominas. The overall concordance index was 86%, corroborating the reliability of the mapping performed. The average error was 6% and the total value of discordance was of 14%. Concerning the secondary vegetation, pasture, agriculture, urban area and forest classes, they presented concordance higher to 50%, while regeneration with pasture and reforestation presented greater intensity of omission with 40,57% and 76,31% respectively. Inclusion errors were less than 40% for the secondary vegetation, pasture regeneration, clean pasture and dirty pasture classes. The field work was essential to validate and analyze the accuracy of the 2014 TerraClass Project for the studied region, which becomes important for the understanding of the dynamics of land use

A comparison of production control systems in a flexible flow shop

Production control in make-to-order must address the companies’ need for short delivery times and on-time deliveries. Several production control systems may be used to meet these needs. This paper presents a simulation study to evaluate the delivery performance of the TKS, GKS and POLCA production co ntrol systems, in the context of a make-to-order flexible flow shop. Since TKS is used for make-to-stock manufacturing, an adaptation of it is made to use in make-to-order. Results of a simulation study show that the adapted TKS outperforms POLCA, but performs worse than GKS. The study is a contribution for the alignment of production control theory to the industrial practice.This work had the financial support of FCT- Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia of Portugal under the project PEst2015-2020: UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio