Gait, balance and functional independence level in stroke patients

Introduction: Most stroke patients present limited movement, which alters gait speed and balance. This study aimed to correlate balance and gait speed, and weight distribution and balance in post-stroke patients.Methods: In total, 36 participants were included. Data collection occurred as follows: filling out the assessment form; assessment with the Berg Balance Scale (BBS); assessment with the baropodometric platform; performing the 10 Meter Walk Test (10mWT) with accelerometer; measurements with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS); the Functional Ambulation Classification (FAC); and the Barthel Index (BI).Results: A negative correlation between FAC and mRS (r = −0.708; p < 0.05) and between BI and mRS (r = −0.716; p < 0.05) was found. The correlation between BI and FAC was positive (r = 0.591). There was a strong positive correlation between the 10mWT values and the BBS score (r = 0.708; p < 0.05). Moreover, a weak negative correlation was observed between BBS values and lower limb weight distribution (r = −0.378; p < 0.05).Conclusion: We found a correlation between the functional ambulation and the degree of independence.This study showed that the better the balance, the greater the gait speed, and the lower the difference on lower limbs weight distribution, the better the balance in post-stroke patients

D. Francisco de Lemos: trajetória e influência de um luso-brasileiro

O objetivo deste trabalho é abordar a trajetória extraordinária do natural do Brasil Francisco de Lemos de Faria Pereira Coutinho (1735-1822), reitor-reformador da Universidade de Coimbra em 1772, no sentido de evidenciar a indispensabilidade da reconstrução do contexto histórico, ou seja, como quer P. Bourdieu, a superfície social em que age o indivíduo, de modo a escolher caminhos dentro de um campo de múltiplas possibilidades. Contudo, o trabalho também considera outro elemento que consiste em apontar em Coutinho o vínculo entre o pensamento e a obra, conhecida por sua influência não só no reino português, mas em todo império ultramarino

A kinetic model of the central carbon metabolism for acrylic acid production in Escherichia coli

Acrylic acid is an economically important chemical compound due to its high market value. Nevertheless, the majority of acrylic acid consumed worldwide its produced from petroleum derivatives by a purely chemical process, which is not only expensive, but it also contributes towards environment deterioration. Hence, justifying the current need for sustainable novel production methods that allow higher profit margins. Ideally, to minimise production cost, the pathway should consist in the direct bio-based production from microbial feedstocks, such as Escherichia coli, but the current yields achieved are still too low to compete with conventional method. In this work, even though the glycerol pathway presented higher yields, we identified the malonyl-CoA route, when using glucose as carbon source, as having the most potential for industrial-scale production, since it is cheaper to implement. Furthermore, we also identified potential optimisation targets for all the tested pathways, that can help the bio-based method to compete with the conventional process.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology(FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit. This article is also a result of the project 22231/01/SAICT/2016: “Biodata.pt – Infraestrutura Portuguesa de Dados Biolo´gicos”, by Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Alexandre Oliveira holds a doctoral fellowship (2020.10205.BD) provided by the FCT. Oscar Dias acknowledge FCT for the Assistant Research contract obtained under CEEC Individual 2018. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Características da população de Santa Maria

Este artigo objetivou conhecer as características da população urbana de Santa Maria, servindo debase para estudos na área das ciências sociais aplicadas, fornecendo ao mesmo tempo informações relevantesàs empresas locais para o ajuste de suas propostas a esse mercado. O estudo realizado em 2003 eos principais resultados evidenciaram a predominância do sexo feminino e da classe “C”, respectivamentecom 52% e 37%. O grau de instrução que se destacou foi o ensino fundamental com 27,75%. Destaqueseainda que a média de pessoas por domicílio é de 3,47% e que a religião católica tem 77,75% de adeptos.Palavras-chave: características, população, urbanas

As tecnologias derivadas da matriz africana no Brasil: um estudo exploratório

Here we present a synthesis of a mapping of technologies derived from the African matrix in Brazil, showing that they make up a rich tradition that has, however, been made invisible by Eurocentric interpretations, which disregard distinct forms of knowledge production and artifacts that do not fit the dominant narrative about the technological development. The research is developed from the studies in Africanities contrasting the paradigms developed by Eurocentric theories and seeks to show, not exhaustively, the richness of the African matrix from its technological manifestations.Aquí presentamos una síntesis de las tecnologías de mapeo derivadas de la matriz africana en Brasil, que muestran que constituyen una rica tradición que, sin embargo, se ha vuelto invisible por las interpretaciones eurocéntricas, que ignoran distintas formas de producción de conocimiento y artefactos que no se ajustan a la narrativa dominante sobre El desarrollo tecnológico. La investigación se desarrolla a partir de los estudios en africanidades que contrastan con los paradigmas desarrollados por las teorías eurocéntricas y busca mostrar, no exhaustivamente, la riqueza de la matriz africana a partir de sus manifestaciones tecnológicas.Nous présentons ici une synthèse des technologies de cartographie dérivées de la matrice africaine au Brésil, montrant qu'elles constituent une riche tradition qui a toutefois été rendue invisible par les interprétations eurocentriques, qui ignorent des formes distinctes de production de connaissances et des artefacts qui ne correspondent pas au discours dominant. le développement technologique. La recherche est développée à partir des études sur les africanités opposant les paradigmes développés par les théories eurocentriques et cherche à montrer, de manière non exhaustive, la richesse de la matrice africaine à partir de ses manifestations technologiques.Apresentamos aqui uma síntese de mapeamento de tecnologias derivadas da matriz africana no Brasil, mostrando que elas compõem uma rica tradição que tem sido, contudo, invisibilizada por interpretações eurocêntricas, que desprezam formas distintas de produção de conhecimentos e artefatos que não se encaixam na narrativa dominante sobre o desenvolvimento tecnológico. A pesquisa, desenvolvida a partir dos estudos em africanidades, contrapondo os paradigmas desenvolvidos pelas teorias eurocêntricas, busca mostrar, de forma não exaustiva, a riqueza da matriz africana a partir de suas manifestações no âmbito tecnológico

Evaluating interaction networks : an analysis based on scientific data from YouTube

Redes sociais face aos desafios num mundo global / coordenação [de] Joaquim Manuel Rocha Fialho, e outros. - Lisboa : Universidade Lusíada. 2023. - ISBN 978-989-640-249-5 - P. 259-265

Clinical assessment, oral and cervical cytology profile of women with cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion / Avaliação clínica e citológica da cavidade oral e da cérvice de mulheres com lesões intraepiteliais escamosas cervicais

Introduction: HPV is a DNA virus capable of infecting the skin and mucous membranes inducing cell proliferation. An exfoliative cytology as a diagnostic tool for HPV is useful in the diagnosis of several lesions, such as premalignant or malignant oral mucosa. The combination of the use of specific brushes and the liquid based is a potential method for early detection of injuries both in the cervix and in the mouth. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of clinical and cytological changes in the oral cavity of women with cervical squamous intraepithelial neoplasms (NIC). Material and methods: Sample was divided into case group (G-NIC) (women with squamous cervical intraepithelial lesions) and control group (CG) (women without changes suggestive of high-grade lesions). Women were evaluated for the presence of oral or cervical lesions. A liquid based exfoliative cytology was collected from both regions, were submitted to Papanicolaou staining and classified according to the Bethesda system. 98 women were evaluated, G-NIC=59 and CG=39. Results: The frequency of oral lesions was G-NIC=6.6% and CG=7.5%. They were inflammatory lesions, lichen planus and soft tissue benign tumor. G-NIC oral cytology analysis: 66% negative for intraepithelial lesion and malignancy, 2% atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance and 32% had processing errors. G-NIC cérvico-vaginal samples: 61% was high-grade intraepithelial lesions, 17% atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance and 22% low-grade intraepithelial lesions. CG showed 92% of oral and 82% of cervical samples was negative to intraepithelial injury and malignancy. Conclusion: There are no clinical and cytological changes in the mouth of women with intraepithelial lesions in the cervical-vaginal region.

cohort study based on electronic health records, Portugal, May to July 2022

Funding Information: The authors are grateful to Marta Barreto and Verónica Gómez from the Department of Epidemiology of Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge and Camila Cruz and João Lima from Shared Services of the Health Ministry for their contributions for this work. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). All rights reserved.We measured vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19-related severe outcomes in elderly people in Portugal between May and July 2022. In ≥ 80 year-olds, the second booster dose VE was 81% (95% CI: 75–85) and 82% (95% CI: 77–85), respectively, against COVID-19-related hospitalisation and death. The first booster dose VE was 63% (95% CI: 55–70) in≥80 year-olds and 74% (95% CI: 66–80) in 60–79 year-olds against hospitalisation, and 63% (95% CI: 57–69) and 65% (95% CI: 54–74) against death.publishersversionpublishe

Target costing: Model proposal for a small construction business

The implementation of a cost control system in construction companies contributes to reducing resource losses in the production process and increasing business productivity and profitability, especially when it comes to small business, which normally do not have a planning system and efficient control. Therefore, this article aims to propose a target costing model for a small construction business, concerning the efficient evaluation of its costs for the maximization of profits in proposals to provide services to public entities. A case study is used, in which data collection occurred through a questionnaire, observations of the process of preparing financial proposals, other unstructured questions, and documentary search, whose approach includes descriptive and qualitative research. The survey results revealed that the enterprise has a cost control system, but is technologically backward. Besides, the enterprise already intuitively used the concepts of target cost in preparing budgets. After evaluating the costs, a target costing model was suggested for the enterprise to use as a parameter in the bidding processes, however, it was not implemented due to the current unfavorable conditions

merlin, an improved framework for the reconstruction of high-quality genome-scale metabolic models

Genome-scale metabolic models have been recognised as useful tools for better understanding living organisms metabolism. merlin (https://www.merlin-sysbio.org/) is an open-source and user-friendly resource that hastens the models reconstruction process, conjugating manual and automatic procedures, while leveraging the user's expertise with a curation-oriented graphical interface. An updated and redesigned version of merlin is herein presented. Since 2015, several features have been implemented in merlin, along with deep changes in the software architecture, operational flow, and graphical interface. The current version (4.0) includes the implementation of novel algorithms and third-party tools for genome functional annotation, draft assembly, model refinement, and curation. Such updates increased the user base, resulting in multiple published works, including genome metabolic (re-)annotations and model reconstructions of multiple (lower and higher) eukaryotes and prokaryotes. merlin version 4.0 is the only tool able to perform template based and de novo draft reconstructions, while achieving competitive performance compared to state-of-the art tools both for well and less-studied organisms.Centre of Biological Engineering (CEB, UMinho); Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit; this work is a result of the project 22231/01/SAICT/2016: Biodata.pt Infraestrutura Portuguesa de Dados Biologicos, supported by the ´ PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); FCT for providing PhD scholarships [DFA/BD/08789/2021 J.C, DFA/BD/8076/2020 E.C., SFRH/BD/139198/2018 to F.C., SFRH/BD/131916/2017 R. Rodrigues]; FCT for the Assistant Research contract of Oscar Dias obtained under CEEC Individual 2018.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio