Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy: Risk Factors and Its Prognostic Value

Introduction: Neonatal brachial plexus palsy affects 0.7 to 5.8 per 1,000 newborns and is characterised by upper limb paresis detected in the immediate neonatal period. Shoulder dystocia, instrumental delivery and foetal macrosomia are well-known risk factors. Most neonatal brachial plexus palsy evolve favourably, while 3%-27% of newborns have sequelae. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to characterise neonatal brachial plexus palsy in the newborn population of a hospital with differentiated perinatal support and to assess the rela - tionship between the risk factors and lesion prognosis. The authors reviewed the newborn medical records referred to the physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic between January 2006 and December 2016. Results: During the study period, 137 cases of neo- natal brachial plexus palsy were identified in 36,833 births, which translate into an incidence of 3.7/1,000 live births. Foetal macrosomia was found in 41% and shoulder dystocia in 40%. According to the Narakas clas- sification, 58% were included in group I, 30% in group II, 9% in group III and 3% in group IV. The majority of patients were discharged without sequelae. Newborns with group II, III and IV lesions as well as macrosomic newborns were more likely to develop sequelae (p < 0.05). Shoulder dystocia and operative delivery did not present a statistically significant relationship with the prognosis of the lesion. Discussion: The incidence of neonatal brachial plexus palsy in this population was similar to is described in other series. The relationship between macrosomia and neonatal brachial plexus palsy with sequelae found may be of importance in the attempt to prevent this lesioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Structure and Phase Transformations of DPPC Lipid Bilayers in the Presence of Nanoparticles: Insights from Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulations

In this article, we investigate fluid-gel transformations of a DPPC lipid bilayer in the presence of nanoparticles, using coarse grained molecular dynamics. Two types of nanoparticles are considered, specifically a 3 nm hydrophobic nanoparticle located in the core of the bilayer and a 6 nm charged nanoparticle located at the interface between the bilayer and water phase. Both negatively and positively charged nanoparticles at the bilayer interface are investigated. We demonstrate that the presence of all types of nanoparticles induces disorder effects in the structure of the lipid bilayer. These effects are characterized using computer visualization of the gel phase in the presence of nanoparticles, radial distribution functions, and order parameters. The 3 nm hydrophobic nanoparticle immersed in the bilayer core and the positively charged nanoparticle at the bilayer surface have no effect on the temperature of the fluid-gel transformation, compared to the bulk case. Interestingly, a negatively charged hydrophobic nanoparticle located at the surface of the bilayer causes slight shift of the fluid-gel transformation to a lower temperature, compared to the bulk bilayer case

DevSecOps metrics

DevSecOps is an emerging paradigm that breaks the Security Team Silo into the DevOps Methodology and adds security practices to the Software Development Cycle (SDL). Security practices in SDL are important to avoid data breaches, guarantee compliance with the law and is an obligation to protect customers data. This study aims to identify metrics teams can use to measure the effectiveness of DevSecOps methodology implementation inside organizations. To that end, we performed a Multivocal Literature Review (MLR), where we reviewed a selection of grey literature. Several metrics purposed by professionals to monitor DevSecOps were identified and listed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Caracterização ambiental dos componentes estruturais de duas regiões do bioma Mata Atlântica no Estado do Paraná.

bitstream/item/120805/1/Doc.-269.-Elenice.pd

Sildenafil previne a nefropatia induzida por contraste em ratos Wistar

Apesar de ser uma das causas mais comuns de insuficiência renal aguda em pacientes hospitalizados, a nefropatia induzida por contraste (NIC) é um problema comum mas mal compreendido e não possui um tratamento adequado. Estudos têm demonstrado a ação antioxidante dos inibidores da fosfodiesterase-5. Portanto, nós investigamos se o sildenafil pode prevenir a disfunção renal de ratos submetidos ao meio de contraste. Ratos Wistar machos (250-350g) foram tratados, durante 7 dias, por gavagem, com sildenafil (50 mg/Kg/dia) ou veículo (2mL/Kg/dia). A NIC foi induzida através da restrição hídrica (24h), injeção i.p. (10mg/Kg) de L-NAME e indometacina, além da injeção i.v. (3mg/Kg) de meio de contraste (Iohexol) ou salina, resultando nos seguintes grupos experimentais: Controle, NIC e NIC + Sildenafil. Em seguida foi feita a análise hemodinâmica renal por padrões-ouro (clerarance de inulina e paraaminohipurato) aliando alterações funcionais acrescidas de investigações a nível molecular (citometria de fluxo). Dados expressos como Média ± EPM; ANOVA 1 via; post-hoc de Tukey; *p<0,05 vs. controle e #p<0.05 vs. NIC. A administração do contraste resultou em queda da taxa de filtração glomerular (controle: 8,53 ± 0,55; NIC: 3,77 ± 0,26* ; NIC + S: 6,77 ± 0,39*# mL/min/Kg), do fluxo plasmático renal (controle: 20,04 ± 0,9; NIC: 9,59 ± 0,38*; NIC + S: 13,18 ± 0,26*# mL/min/Kg ) e do fluxo sanguíneo renal (controle: 35,01 ± 2,02; NIC20,36 ± 0,67*; NIC + S: 22,46 ± 0,8 *# mL/min/Kg ) e aumento da resistência vascular renal (controle: 3,59 ± 0,46; NIC: 7,72 ± 0,31*; NIC + S: 4,86 ± 0,17# u.a), os quais foram prevenidos pelo tratamento com sildenafil. Portanto, o sildenafil pode ser um promissor agente terapêutico para a prevenção e / ou tratamento de disfunção renal induzida por contraste. Palavras-Chave: Sildenafil; Nefropatia induzida por contraste (NIC); Estresse oxidativo

Diet selection in a pasture of Panicum maximum cv. Mombaça with different sward heights.

Resumo

Identifying the Azobenzene/Aniline reaction intermediate on TiO2-(110) : a DFT Study

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations, both with and without dispersion corrections, have been performed to investigate the nature of the common surface reaction intermediate that has been shown to exist on TiO2(110) as a result of exposure to either azobenzene (C6H5N═NC6H5) or aniline (C6H5NH2). Our results confirm the results of a previous DFT study that dissociation of azobenzene into two adsorbed phenyl imide (C6H5N) fragments, as was originally proposed, is not energetically favorable. We also find that deprotonation of aniline to produce this surface species is even more strongly energetically disfavored. A range of alternative surface species has been considered, and while dissociation of azobenzene to form surface C6H4NH species is energetically favored, the same surface species cannot form from adsorbed aniline. On the contrary, adsorbed aniline is much the most stable surface species. Comparisons with experimental determinations of the local adsorption site, the Ti–N bond length, the molecular orientation, and the associated C 1s and N 1s photoelectron core level shifts are all consistent with the DFT results for adsorbed aniline and are inconsistent with other adsorbed species considered. Possible mechanisms for the hydrogenation of azobenzene required to produce this surface species are discussed

Relationship of balance to function independence in stroke survivors

Cerebral vascular disease is the primary cause of permanent disability in Portugal. Impaired stability is considered an important feature after stroke as it is related with higher risk of falls and functional dependence. Physiotherapy intervention usually starts early after stroke in order to direct motor recovery and help patients to improve their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). Purpose: to investigate the relationship of balance to functionality in acute stroke patients. Methods: 16 subjects (8 women and 8 men), mean age 63,62 ± 2,16y, with unilateral ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery territory, who were admitted to physiotherapy department of Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Portugal, within the first month after stroke were recruited to participate in this study. All subjects have no cognitive impairment according to Mini Mental State, no history of lower extremity orthopedic problems and no other disease that could interfere with treatments. All patients gave their inform consent to participate in this study. Subjects were assessed with the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS).Supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology Grant SFRH/PROTEC/49675/2009