13 research outputs found

    Convergence of the Crank-Nicolson-Galerkin finite element method for a class of nonlocal parabolic systems with moving boundaries

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    The aim of this paper is to establish the convergence and error bounds to the fully discrete solution for a class of nonlinear systems of reaction-diffusion nonlocal type with moving boundaries, using a linearized Crank-Nicolson-Galerkin finite element method with polynomial approximations of any degree. A coordinate transformation which fixes the boundaries is used. Some numerical tests to compare our Matlab code with some existing moving finite elements methods are investigated

    Implementação Matlab do método dos elementos finitos móveis para resolução de problemas de convecção-difusão-reacção

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    No presente trabalho apresentamos uma aplicação computacional desenhadaem Matlab para a resolução de sistemas de equações diferenciais com derivadas parciais,dependentes do tempo em domínios espaciais de dimensão 1. O algoritmo numéricobaseia-se na formulação do método dos Elementos Finitos Móveis (MEFM) com funçõesde base não lineares e malhas adaptativas associadas a cada uma das variáveisdependentes. O principal objectivo desta nova implementação do MEFM é que possa serutilizada de modo simples por um utilizador que não domine as técnicas da linguagemFORTRAN para resolver de modo eficiente uma grande variedade de problemasevolutivos, incluindo problemas com fronteiras móveis. Os exemplos numéricos queapresentamos permitem avaliar a robuste

    Germline genetic variants of the renin-angiotensin system, hypoxia and angiogenesis in non-small cell lung cancer progression : discovery and validation studies

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    © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Introduction: The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) is involved in cell proliferation, immunoinflammatory response, hypoxia and angiogenesis, which are critical biological processes in lung cancer. Our aim was to study the association of putatively functional genetic polymorphisms in genes coding for proteins involved in RAS, hypoxia and angiogenesis with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prognosis. Methods: Genotyping of 52 germline variants from genes of the RAS and hypoxic/angiogenic factors/receptors was performed using MassARRAY iPLEX Gold in a retrospective cohort (n = 167) of advanced NSCLC patients. Validation of the resulting genetic markers was conducted in an independent group (n = 190), matched by clinicopathological characteristics. Results: Multivariate analysis on the discovery set revealed that MME rs701109 C carriers were protected from disease progression in comparison with homozygous T (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.2–0.8, p = 0.010). Homozygous A and T genotypes for KDR rs1870377 were at increased risk for disease progression and death compared to heterozygous (HR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.2–2.5, p = 0.005 and HR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.2–3.4, p = 0.006, respectively). Carriers of homozygous genotypes for ACE2 rs908004 presented increased risk for disease progression, only in the subgroup of patients without tumour actionable driver mutations (HR = 2.9, 95% CI = 1.3–6.3, p = 0.010). Importantly, the association of homozygous genotypes in MME rs701109 with risk for disease progression was confirmed after multivariate analysis in the validation set. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that MME polymorphism, which encodes neprilysin, may modulate progression-free survival in advanced NSCLC. Present genetic variation findings will foster basic, translational, and clinical research on their role in NSCLC.M.J.C. was supported by the Associação de Estudos Respiratórios and the Portuguese Pulmonology Society.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    The multiple meanings of "wheezing": a questionnaire survey in Portuguese for parents and health professionals

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Most epidemiological studies on pediatric asthma rely on the report of "wheezing" in questionnaires. Our aim was to investigate the understanding of this term by parents and health professionals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional survey was carried out in hospital and community settings within the south of Portugal. Parents or caregivers self-completed a written questionnaire with information on social characteristics and respiratory history. Multiple choice questions assessed their understanding of "wheezing". Health professionals (physicians, nurses and physiotherapists) were given an adapted version. We used bivariate analysis and multivariate models to study associations between definitions of "wheezing" and participants' characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Questionnaires from 425 parents and 299 health professionals were included. The term "wheezing" was not recognized by 34% of parents, more frequently those who were younger (OR 0.4 per 10-year increment, 95% CI 0.3-0.7), had lower education (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.5-7.4), and whose children had no history of respiratory disease (OR 4.6, 95% CI 2.5-8.7) (all ORs adjusted). 31% of parents familiar with "wheezing" either did not identify it as a sound, or did not locate it to the chest, while tactile (40%) and visual (34%) cues to identify "wheezing" were frequently used. Nurses reported using visual stimuli and overall assessments more often than physicians (p < 0.01). The geographical location was independently associated with how parents recognized and described "wheezing".</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Different meanings for "wheezing" are recognized in Portuguese language and may be influenced by education, respiratory history and regional terminology. These findings are likely applicable to other non-English languages, and suggest the need for more accurate questionnaires and additional objective measurement instruments to study the epidemiology of wheezing disorders.</p

    The Crank–Nicolson–Galerkin Finite Element Method for a Nonlocal Parabolic Equation with Moving Boundaries

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    The aim of this article is to establish the convergence and error bounds for the fully discrete solutions of a class of nonlinear equations of reaction–diffusion nonlocal type with moving boundaries, using a linearized Crank–Nicolson–Galerkin finite element method with polynomial approximations of any degree. A coordinate transformation which fixes the boundaries is used. Some numerical tests to compare our Matlab code with some existing moving finite element methods are investigated.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    A reaction-diffusion model for a class of nonlinear parabolic equations with moving boundaries: Existence, uniqueness, exponential decay and simulation

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    The aim of this paper is to establish the existence, uniqueness and asymptotic behaviour of a strong regular solution for a class of nonlinear equations of reaction–diffusion nonlocal type with moving boundaries:where is a bounded non-cylindrical domain defined byMoreover, we study the properties of the solution and implement a numerical algorithm based on the Moving Finite Element Method (MFEM) with polynomial approximations of any degree, to solve this class of problems. Some numerical tests are investigated to evaluate the performance of our Matlab code based on the MFEM and illustrate the exponential decay of the solution.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction attributable to left main coronary artery compression

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    © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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