A new linear parametrization for peak friction coefficient estimation in real time

The correct estimation of the friction coefficient in automotive applications is of paramount importance in the design of effective vehicle safety systems. In this article a new parametrization for estimating the peak friction coefficient, in the tire-road interface, is presented. The proposed parametrization is based on a feedforward neural network (FFNN), trained by the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) method. Unlike traditional learning techniques for FFNN, typically based on backpropagation and inappropriate for real time implementation, the ELM provides a learning process based on random assignment in the weights between input and the hidden layer. With this approach, the network training becomes much faster, and the unknown parameters can be identified through simple and robust regression methods, such as the Recursive Least Squares. Simulation results, obtained with the CarSim program, demonstrate a good performance of the proposed parametrization; compared with previous methods described in the literature, the proposed method reduces the estimation errors using a model with a lower number of parameters

Chemical composition and cytotoxic activity of Lepechinia speciosa (St. Hill) Epling

The cell viability of Lepechinia speciosa (St. Hill) Epling fractions was measured by cell membrane integrity (lactate dehydrogenase assay) on rat basophilic leukemia cells (RBL-2H3). All fractions and extract tested (100 μg/ml) increased the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), being the ethyl acetate and dichloromethane fractions with LDH release of 94.5% and 91.2%, respectively. As these fractions showed decrease of cell viability, the antiproliferative activity on human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF-7) through sulphorhodamine B (SRB) assay was performed with them. The dichloromethane fraction (50 μg/ml) displayed the maximum activity (95% of inhibition) (IC50 = 1.99 ± 0.06 μg/ml). From this fraction was obtained a mixture containing two triterpenes (ursolic and oleanolic acids) and one fatty acid (palmitic acid), which were identified by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and had their structures confirmed by 13C NMR. Rosmarinic acid and verbascoside were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction and had their structures confirmed by 1H NMR.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Telemedicina: Situação em Portugal

Introdução: A telemedicina é hoje reconhecida pela OMS como uma ferramenta para melhorar o acesso e a qualidade dos cuidados de saúde. Apesar das vantagens aparentes é uma tecnologia recente e está longe de constituir uma prática de rotina na vida clínica diária. Objectivo: Conhecer a situação actual em Portugal relativamente à telemedicina, nomeadamente: quais as Unidades de Saúde com instalações de telemedicina e áreas em que se desenvolve esta actividade; número de serviços anuais e evolução; dificuldades e obstáculos dos profissionais e Instituições; perspectivas futuras Metodologia: A recolha dos dados foi efectuado através de: inquérito enviados às ARS do Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Alentejo, Algarve e IGIF; entrevista com algumas instituições relativa aos serviços em funcionamento; pesquisa bibliográfica e na Internet Resultados: Dos 6 inquéritos enviados foram recebidos 5, provenientes da ARS Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Algarve e Alentejo. Foram efectuadas entrevistas: H S. João, CHVila Nova de Gaia, CHVale do Sousa e H Pediátrico de Coimbra. Obtivemos informações relativas aos equipamentos instalados e serviços actualmente em funcionamento, em todo o país, destacando- se o funcionamento nas áreas da cardiologia, imagiologia e dermatologia. Não havia registo do número de teleconsultas e transmissão de exames excepto no que se refere à ARS Alentejo. Das dificuldades e obstáculos encontrados salientamos a falta de adesão dos profissionais e instituições; custos do funcionamento do sistema; ausência de definição funcional dos profissionais envolvidos (falta de remuneração dos actos médicos e acumulação de funções); ausência de uma estratégia nacional. Quanto às perspectivas futuras, de um modo geral, os objectivos das ARS incluem: a ligação dos centros de saúde e hospitais, e petrechamento com um equipamento básico de Telemedicina em conformidade com as actividades e tipos de consulta a realizar; o desenvolvimento de projectos no âmbito do INTERREG III. Comentários: O desafio que as organizações tem que enfrentar é a mudança estrutural provocada pela modernização dos processos e métodos de trabalho, «o hospital virtual», e a diluição das barreiras entre os Cuidados Primários e os Diferenciados. A telemedicina exige novas formas de gestão e de medição de desempenho das instituições; esta actividade deve ser equiparada às outras normalmente desenvolvidas nas unidades de saúde. Introduction: Telemedicine is recognized by the WHO as a tool for improvement of access and the quality of health care. However it is not yet a routine procedure in health services. Objective: to assess the utilization of telemedicine in Portugal, namely: health care services equipped with telemedicine, and services provided; annual services and evolution; difficulties and obstacles from professionals and institutions; future trends Methodology: data was obtained through a questionnaire sent to the five Regional Administrations of Health and the Financial Department of Health, interviews with some of the professionals practising Telemedicine and research in the web Results: We received five questionnaires from the Regional Administrations of Health, and collected data from the following Hospitals: S. João, Vila Nova de Gaia, Vale do Sousa e Coimbra Children’s Hospital. We obtained information of the institutions practising telemedicine, and the type of services. Cardiology, radiology and dermatology were the services more frequently provided. The number of teleconsultations or transmitted studies was not registered, except in Alentejo. The more common difficulties to implement this technology were: clinical and providers acceptance; lack of integration into the health care mainstream (the costs of teleconsultations are not reimbursed); equipment and operational costs; absence of a national strategy. Future trends include the equipment of telemedicine stations in Primary and Hospital care and the development of projects in cooperation with Spain (INTERREG III). Comments: Organizations face the challenge of a structural change due to the new technologies (telemedicine and health informatics) and the disappearance of barriers between primary and hospital care. Institutional, organizational and national policies must face new realities to introduce telemedicine into the mainstream of health, including assessment of health outcomes

Telemedicina: Situação em Portugal

Introdução: A telemedicina é hoje reconhecida pela OMS como uma ferramenta para melhorar o acesso e a qualidade dos cuidados de saúde. Apesar das vantagens aparentes é uma tecnologia recente e está longe de constituir uma prática de rotina na vida clínica diária. Objectivo: Conhecer a situação actual em Portugal relativamente à telemedicina, nomeadamente: quais as Unidades de Saúde com instalações de telemedicina e áreas em que se desenvolve esta actividade; número de serviços anuais e evolução; dificuldades e obstáculos dos profissionais e Instituições; perspectivas futuras Metodologia: A recolha dos dados foi efectuado através de: inquérito enviados às ARS do Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Alentejo, Algarve e IGIF; entrevista com algumas instituições relativa aos serviços em funcionamento; pesquisa bibliográfica e na Internet Resultados: Dos 6 inquéritos enviados foram recebidos 5, provenientes da ARS Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Algarve e Alentejo. Foram efectuadas entrevistas: H S. João, CHVila Nova de Gaia, CHVale do Sousa e H Pediátrico de Coimbra. Obtivemos informações relativas aos equipamentos instalados e serviços actualmente em funcionamento, em todo o país, destacando- se o funcionamento nas áreas da cardiologia, imagiologia e dermatologia. Não havia registo do número de teleconsultas e transmissão de exames excepto no que se refere à ARS Alentejo. Das dificuldades e obstáculos encontrados salientamos a falta de adesão dos profissionais e instituições; custos do funcionamento do sistema; ausência de definição funcional dos profissionais envolvidos (falta de remuneração dos actos médicos e acumulação de funções); ausência de uma estratégia nacional. Quanto às perspectivas futuras, de um modo geral, os objectivos das ARS incluem: a ligação dos centros de saúde e hospitais, e petrechamento com um equipamento básico de Telemedicina em conformidade com as actividades e tipos de consulta a realizar; o desenvolvimento de projectos no âmbito do INTERREG III. Comentários: O desafio que as organizações tem que enfrentar é a mudança estrutural provocada pela modernização dos processos e métodos de trabalho, «o hospital virtual», e a diluição das barreiras entre os Cuidados Primários e os Diferenciados. A telemedicina exige novas formas de gestão e de medição de desempenho das instituições; esta actividade deve ser equiparada às outras normalmente desenvolvidas nas unidades de saúde. Introduction: Telemedicine is recognized by the WHO as a tool for improvement of access and the quality of health care. However it is not yet a routine procedure in health services. Objective: to assess the utilization of telemedicine in Portugal, namely: health care services equipped with telemedicine, and services provided; annual services and evolution; difficulties and obstacles from professionals and institutions; future trends Methodology: data was obtained through a questionnaire sent to the five Regional Administrations of Health and the Financial Department of Health, interviews with some of the professionals practising Telemedicine and research in the web Results: We received five questionnaires from the Regional Administrations of Health, and collected data from the following Hospitals: S. João, Vila Nova de Gaia, Vale do Sousa e Coimbra Children’s Hospital. We obtained information of the institutions practising telemedicine, and the type of services. Cardiology, radiology and dermatology were the services more frequently provided. The number of teleconsultations or transmitted studies was not registered, except in Alentejo. The more common difficulties to implement this technology were: clinical and providers acceptance; lack of integration into the health care mainstream (the costs of teleconsultations are not reimbursed); equipment and operational costs; absence of a national strategy. Future trends include the equipment of telemedicine stations in Primary and Hospital care and the development of projects in cooperation with Spain (INTERREG III). Comments: Organizations face the challenge of a structural change due to the new technologies (telemedicine and health informatics) and the disappearance of barriers between primary and hospital care. Institutional, organizational and national policies must face new realities to introduce telemedicine into the mainstream of health, including assessment of health outcomes

Antioxidant activity of aminodiarylamines in the thieno[3,2-b]pyridine series: radical scavenging activity, lipid peroxidation inhibition and redox profile

The antioxidant activity of the aminodi(hetero)arylamines, prepared by C-N coupling of the methyl 3-aminothieno[3,2-b]pyridine-2-carboxylate with bromonitrobenzenes and further reduction of the obtained nitro compounds, was evaluated by chemical, biochemical and electrochemical assays. The aminodi(hetero)arylamine with the amino group ortho to the NH and a methoxy group in para, was the most efficient in radical scavenging activity (RSA, 63 µM) and reducing power (RP, 33 µM), while the aminodiarylamine with the amino group in para to the NH, gave the best results in β-carotene-linoleate system (41 µM) and inhibition of formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in porcine brain cells homogenates (7 µM), with EC50 values even lower than those obtained for the standard trolox. This diarylamine also presented the lowest oxidation potential, lower than the one of trolox, and the highest antioxidant power in the electrochemical assays. The para substitution with an amino group enables higher antioxidant potential.The authors are grateful to FCT and FEDER (European Fund for Regional Development)-COMPETE/QREN/EU for financial support through the research unities PEst-C/QUI/UI686/2011 and PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011, the research project PTDC/QUI-QUI/111060/2009 and the post-Doctoral grant attributed to R.C.C. (SFRH/BPD/68344/2010)

Asymmetrical subcortical plasticity entails cognitive progression in older individuals

Structural brain asymmetries have been associated with cognition. However, it is not known to what extent neuropsychological parameters and structural laterality covary with aging. Seventy-five subjects drawn from a larger normal aging cohort were evaluated in terms of MRI and neuropsychological parameters at two moments (M1 and M2), 18 months apart. In this time frame, asymmetry as measured by structural laterality index (ΔLI) was stable regarding both direction and magnitude in all areas. However, a significantly higher dispersion for this variation was observed in subcortical over cortical areas. Subjects with extreme increase in rightward lateralization of the caudate revealed increased M1 to M2 Stroop interference scores, but also a worsening of general cognition (MMSE). In contrast, subjects showing extreme increase in leftward lateralization of the thalamus presented higher increase in Stroop interference scores. In conclusion, while a decline in cognitive function was observed in the entire sample, regional brain asymmetries were relatively stable. Neuropsychological trajectories were associated with laterality changes in subcortical regions.This work was supported by the project NORTE‐01‐0145‐FEDER‐000013 through the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), and funded by the European Commission (FP7) “SwitchBox ‐ Maintaining health in old age through homeostasis” (Contract HEALTH‐F2‐2010‐259772), and co‐financed by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through FEDER, and by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal) (Contract grant number: P‐139977; project “TEMPO ‐ Better mental health during ageing based on temporal prediction of individual brain ageing trajectories”) and by “PANINI ‐ Physical Activity and Nutrition INfluences In ageing” (European Commission (Horizon 2020), Contract GA 675003). Individual authors were supported under: "SwitchBox" to PM and NCS; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) grants SFRH/BD/52291/2013 to ME and PD/BD/106050/2015 to CPN via Inter‐University Doctoral Programme in Ageing and Chronic Disease (PhDOC), PDE/BDE/113601/2015 to PSM and PDE/BDE/113604/2015 to RM via PhD Program in Health Sciences (Applied) (Phd‐iHES), SFRH/BD/90078/2012 to TCC, SFRH/BD/101398/2014 to LA and SFRH/BPD/80118/2011 do HLAinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Origin and Epidemiological History of HIV-1 CRF14_BG

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Users must also make clear the license terms under which the work was published. CC BY Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Background: CRF14_BG isolates, originally found in Spain, are characterized by CXCR4 tropism and rapid disease progression. This study aimed to identify the origin of CRF14_BG and reconstruct its epidemiological history based on new isolates from Portugal.Methodology/Principal Findings: C2V3C3 env gene sequences were obtained from 62 samples collected in 1993–1998 from Portuguese HIV-1 patients. Full-length genomic sequences were obtained from three patients. Viral subtypes, diversity, divergence rate and positive selection were investigated by phylogenetic analysis. The molecular structure of the genomes was determined by bootscanning. A relaxed molecular clock model was used to date the origin of CRF14_BG. Geno2pheno was used to predict viral tropism. Subtype B was the most prevalent subtype (45 sequences; 73%) followed by CRF14_BG (8; 13%), G (4; 6%), F1 (2; 3%), C (2; 3%) and CRF02_AG (1; 2%). Three CRF14_BG sequences were derived from 1993 samples. Near full-length genomic sequences were strongly related to the CRF14_BG isolates from Spain. Genetic diversity of the Portuguese isolates was significantly higher than the Spanish isolates (0.044 vs 0.014, P,0.0001). The mean date of origin of the CRF14_BG cluster was estimated to be 1992 (range, 1989 and 1996) based on the subtype G genomic region and 1989 (range, 1984–1993) based on the subtype B genomic region. Most CRF14_BG strains (78.9%) were predicted to be CXCR4. Finally, up to five amino acids were under selective pressure in subtype B V3 loop whereas only one was found in the CRF14_BG cluster.Conclusions: CRF14_BG emerged in Portugal in the early 1990 s soon after the beginning of the HIV-1 epidemics, spread to Spain in late 1990 s as a consequence of IVDUs migration and then to the rest of Europe. CXCR4 tropism is a general characteristic of this CRF that may have been selected for by escape from neutralizing antibody response

Diagnóstico das ONG em Portugal

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio