A integração de Unidades de viaturas de rodas e de lagartas aos mais diversos escalões

O presente trabalho aborda a integração de unidades de viaturas de rodas e lagartas aos mais diversos escalões. O objetivo deste relatório consiste em encontrar uma forma adequada de adaptar tática e doutrinariamente a integração de viaturas de rodas e de lagartas aos mais diversos escalões do Exército Português. Com este intuito investigou-se a forma como a Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte padroniza as suas tipologias de Brigadas ao nível orgânico e das capacidades e missões - investigou- se a forma como os Exércitos Britânico, Francês e Espanhol integram, em complementaridade, os dois tipos de viaturas, de rodas e de lagartas; investigou-se o atual contexto operacional e a forma como esta tipologia de forças é empregue. Esta é uma investigação qualitativa baseada no método hipotético-dedutivo (através da elaboração de hipóteses de investigação) e no método inquisitivo (através da realização de seis entrevistas a oficiais ligados à temática). Da análise e discussão de resultados foi possível determinar que todos os entrevistados acreditam na complementaridade de viaturas de rodas e de lagartas, com um emprego preferencial em unidades de tamanho igual ou superior a Batalhão. No panorama do Exército Português, estas unidades seriam possíveis. Contudo, deveria existir um upgrade considerável nas viaturas Pandur II, no que toca à mobilidade, proteção e poder de fogo. Por fim o trabalho conclui que, no caso específico do Exército Português, esta complementaridade é possível, preferencialmente ao escalão Brigada, com todos os aspetos acima referidos concretizados. Conclui ainda que a solução mais viável, atualmente, é a substituição do Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizado de Lagartas por um de Rodas. No entanto, o Exército Português, numa atualização de meios posterior, deveria dispor de um Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizado de Lagartas equipado com uma viatura de combate de infantaria modern

El oppidum de San Cibrán de Las y el papel de la religión en los procesos de centralización en la Edad del Hierro

Nuevas investigaciones permiten cuestionar la datación tradicional de los oppida del Noroeste hispano en época romana, mostrando que muchos de estos sitios tuvieron su origen ya en el siglo II-I a.C. El oppidum de San Cibrán de Las (Ourense) representa uno de los yacimientos clave para esta discusión. Las excavaciones en área llevadas a cabo en los últimos años han ofrecido una gran cantidad de información acerca de la estructura interna del asentamiento, sus viviendas y fortificaciones, así como el especial simbolismo del área de la acrópolis; en esta última se encuentran documentadas varias esculturas de divinidades y epígrafes religiosos. No obstante, el descubrimiento más importante es la larga secuencia de ocupación del yacimiento puesta en evidencia por una amplia serie de dataciones de C14. La frecuentación del sitio se inició varios siglos antes de la fundación del oppidum, y parece haber estado vinculada con un uso de la acrópolis para celebraciones religiosas. Una comparativa con la evidencia arqueológica encontrada en otros oppida de la Europa templada, las fuentes escritas y la toponimia regional ponen de manifiesto el papel central de asambleas y festivales religiosos en la construcción de identidades colectivas y en los orígenes del urbanismoNew research challenges the traditional dating of the oppida of NW Iberia into the Roman period, showing that many of these sites already originated in the late 2nd and 1st century BC. The oppidum of San Cibrán de Las (Ourense) constitutes a key case-study for this discussion. The large-scale excavations of the last years have provided extensive information about the inner structure of the site, its houses and fortifications, and the special significance of the area of the acropolis; the latter includes several sculptures of deities and religious inscriptions. However, the most important discovery is the long sequence of occupation revealed by a large sample of C14 dates. Frequentation of the site starts several centuries before the foundation of the oppidum, and seems to have been related with a use of the acropolis for religious gatherings. A comparison with the archaeological evidence found at other oppida from temperate Europe, literary sources and regional place names points towards the crucial role of assemblies and religious festivals in the construction of collective identities and the development of early urbanis

Manual para a avaliação biológica da qualidade da água em sistemas fluviais segundo a Directiva Quadro da Água - Protocolo de amostragem e análise para a fauna piscícola

A Directiva nº 2000/60/CE do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho, de 23 de Outubro de 2000 (Directiva Quadro da Água - DQA), transposta para a legislação nacional pela Lei da Água, Lei nº58/2005, de 29 de Dezembro e pelo Decreto-Lei nº77/2006, de 30 de Março, veio tornar mais premente a necessidade de, a nível nacional, se desenvolver um esforço de normalização quanto a métodos de amostragem de elementos de qualidade biológicos designadamente na perspectiva dos programas de monitorização. Na elaboração do presente protocolo para a fauna piscícola teve-se em conta a Norma EN 14011 (2003) Water quality - Sampling of fish with electricity com as necessárias alterações dadas as características dos cursos de água portugueses e a necessidade de produzir um protocolo na medida do possível simples, claro e objectivo

Factors influencing erythrocyte sedimentation rate in adults New evidence for an old test

The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a routine test for inflammation. Few studies have investigated the potential influence of lifestyle factors and common metabolic abnormalities on the ESR. This study investigates the influence of demographic factors, alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, obesity, and metabolic syndrome on the ESR in adults.This cross-sectional study covered 1472 individuals (44.5% males; age range, 18-91 years) randomly selected from the population of a Spanish municipality. The ESR was measured using a standardized method. We assessed habitual alcohol consumption in standard drinking units, along with tobacco smoking, regular physical exercise (by questionnaire), body mass index, and variables defining metabolic syndrome. Multivariate analyses were performed, including mean corpuscular volume and hemoglobin concentration in the models.The ESR was higher in females than in males, and increased steadily with age. Median ESR of females was 2-fold higher than that of males, and median ESR of individuals aged >65 years was 2-fold higher than that of individuals in the youngest category (ages 18-35 years). Body mass index, presence of metabolic syndrome, and smoking were independently and positively associated with higher ESR values. Light alcohol drinkers and individuals with high regular physical activity displayed lower ESR values than did alcohol abstainers and individuals with low physical activity, respectively.ESR varies greatly with age and sex, and corresponding reference values are proposed. Lifestyle factors (physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption) and common metabolic abnormalities (obesity and related metabolic syndrome) may also influence ESR values

Tipologia de rios em Portugal Continental no âmbito da implementação da Directiva Quadro da Água. I - Caracterização abiótica.

Os tipos são grupos de massas de água com características geográficas e hidrológicas relativamente homogéneas, consideradas relevantes para a determinação das condições ecológicas. O objectivo da definição de tipos é permitir que sejam correctamente estabelecidas condições de referência e que sejam comparáveis as classificações de estado ecológico dentro de cada grupo de rios com características semelhantes. Na definição da Tipologia para Rios, procedeu-se inicialmente à aplicação do sistema A (Anexo II, DQA) tendo-se obtido 18 tipos. Estando a generalidade dos tipos representada em todo o território continental, considerou-se que este sistema não traduziria a heterogeneidade ecológica existente, não reflectindo o gradiente climático Norte – Sul, particularmente evidente para a temperatura e precipitação. Nesse sentido entendeu-se necessário aplicar o Sistema B (Anexo II, DQA)

Patients' preferences for subcutaneous trastuzumab versus conventional intravenous infusion for the adjuvant treatment of HER2-positive early breast cancer: final analysis of 488 patients in the international, randomized, two-cohort PrefHer study

PrefHer revealed compelling and consistent patient preference for subcutaneous (s.c.) trastuzumab, regardless of delivery by single-use injection device or hand-held syringe. s.c. trastuzumab was well-tolerated and safety data, including immunogenicity, were consistent with previous reports. No new safety signals were identified compared with the known intravenous trastuzumab profile in early breast cance

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised