A rare and threatening complication in a cirrhotic patient

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hedonic Prices Indexes for New Passenger Cars in Portugal (1997- 2001)

This paper evaluates the effects of quality change on the price index for new passenger cars in Portugal for the years 1997-2001. Hedonic regression models are studied, giving particular emphasis to the relation between the form of the price index and the specification of the hedonic equation and estimation method used. It is argued that when log-linear hedonic functions are used the effects of quality change should be evaluated using a method akin to the Oaxaca decomposition (Oaxaca R., 1973, "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets", International Economic Review, 14, 693-709), rather than using the traditional dummy variables method. The results of the empirical part of the paper indicate that the CPI component corresponding to the sales of new passenger cars may have been overestimated by as much as 2.2 percentage points per year. This corresponds to an overestimation of the overall CPI by about 0.15 percentage points per year. As a by- product of this analysis it is also possible to conclude that the quality of new cars sold in Portugal increased on average 4.8 percent per year during this period.CPI bias; Heteroskedasticity; Oaxaca decomposition.

Tonsillar metastasis of a lower limb pleomorphic sarcoma

Os tumores das amígdalas palatinas são raros (1.45 casos:100000 indivíduos/ ano) e maioritariamente primários, geralmente de origem epitelial ou linfoproliferativa. Contudo, estima-se que 0.8% sejam secundários. A maioria dos cerca de 100 casos descritos na literatura é referente a carcinomas pulmonares, da mama, de células renais e melanomas, não havendo referência a nenhum caso de metastização por sarcoma do membro inferior. Este artigo descreve o caso de uma paciente de 72 anos que apresentava hipertrofia, endurecimento e ulceração da amígdala palatina direita. A amigdalectomia direita levou ao diagnóstico de sarcoma pleomórfico. A neoplasia primária, na face interna da coxa esquerda, tinha sido diagnosticada dois anos antes. Uma pequena minoria dos tumores da amígdala palatina é metastática. A metastização da amígdala por um sarcoma do membro inferior não se encontrava descrita na literatura, mas como noutros tipos histológicos, surgiu numa fase tardia da doença e com prognóstico muito reservado.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Multi-purpose and Multi-source Energy Management System for Biomedical Implants

AbstractThis paper describes a multi-purpose energy management system that can harvest energy from a multitude of power sources. In order to suffice power needs of a smart hip prosthesis, a prototype was built considering the use of two types of power sources: energy harvesting micro-power generators for intermittent implant electronics powering; wireless energy, by means of an activation system, responsible for, when needed, continuously powering the implant electronics and also configuring its mode of operation. Intermittently or continuously, it is now possible to energize more power demanding systems as the ones that uses a RF transceiver. The smart hip prosthesis can now become a wireless body sensor network node using LR-WPAN protocols such as Bluetooth low energy as is intended in this work. Preliminary results proved that is possible to energize a Bluetooth low energy module, for over 100 s, solely using the stored energy produced by one of the micro-power generators

Potential applications of natural origin polymer-based systems in soft tissue regeneration

Despite the many advances in tissue engineering approaches, scientists still face significant challenges in trying to repair and replace soft tissues. Nature-inspired routes involving the creation of polymer-based systems of natural origins constitute an interesting alternative route to produce novel materials. The interest in these materials comes from the possibility of constructing multi-component systems that can be manipulated by composition allowing one to mimic the tissue environment required for the cellular regeneration of soft tissues. For this purpose, factors such as the design, choice, and compatibility of the polymers are considered to be key factors for successful strategies in soft tissue regeneration. More recently, polysaccharide-protein based systems have being increasingly studied and proposed for the treatment of soft tissues. The characteristics, properties, and compatibility of the resulting materials investigated in the last 10 years, as well as commercially available matrices or those currently under investigation are the subject matter of this review.S.S. Silva would like to acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for a post doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BD/45307/2008). This work was partially supported by the European-Union-funded FP7 Project: Find and Bind (NMP4-SL-2009-229292) and STREP project HIPPOCRATES (NMP3-CT-2003-505758) and was carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283)

BAHA in children: Indications, results and complications

O BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid - prótese auditiva ancorada no osso) é utilizado em malformações do ouvido externo e médio, otorreia crónica, doença ossicular inoperável e como alternativa à prótese auditiva convencional por inadaptação/ impossibilidade. Este artigo descreve a experiência de colocação de BAHA no Hospital Maria Pia – Centro Hospitalar do Porto na última década, por estudo retrospectivo de 47 pacientes. O ganho audiométrico médio foi de 33,9 dB em relação aos valores base e de 14,4 dB em relação ao uso de próteses auditivas convencionais, com limiar auditivo médio com BAHA de 17,8 dB. Não houve qualquer complicação intra-operatória. No pós-operatório, quatro casos exigiram cirurgia para revisão da pele, em dois casos não houve integração óssea do implante e em três casos houve extrusão do implante por traumatismo directo. Este estudo conclui que os BAHA são um método eficaz e seguro de aparelhamento auditivo em crianças.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sistema de cultivo para cevada. III. Efeitos de algumas culturas de inverno sobre o rendimento de grãos da soja e da ervilhaca sobre o rendimento de grãos de milho, em plantio direto, no período de 1986/1987 a 1988/1989.

bitstream/item/133650/1/ID12384-1988-1989sojaresultados-p54-61.pdfTrabalho apresentado na XVII Reunião de Pesquisa de Soja da Região Sul, Porto Alegre, 1989