Non-slip Prosthetic Surf Foot

The Surf Foot project was created to resolve the challenges faced by Dana Cummings, a former Marine and transtibial left leg amputee, while surfing. Dana is a competitive surfer who first picked up the sport after he lost his leg. He currently utilizes a carbon fiber prosthetic leg when surfing. However, this prosthetic is not ideal for Dana as he often slips while standing up on his surfboard. As such, Dana would like a new non-slip prosthetic leg so that he can further pursue his passion of competitive surfing. Our team, which consisted of four engineering students attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, was sponsored by the QL+ organization. Over the course of three quarters, we worked to research, design, manufacture, and test a prototype that would meet Dana’s requirements. After several months of brainstorming and conceptualizing, we designed a prosthetic leg made from five main components. These components include two pieces of carbon fiber which together serve as a leg, two rubber components intended to serve as a non-slip sole for the prosthetic, and an adapter that would allow Dana to attach the prosthetic to the socket he uses when surfing. Unfortunately, due to the closure of on-campus facilities that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, our team was unable to complete the manufacturing and in-person testing of the prosthetic we designed. Instead, we compiled a list of in-depth instructions regarding the planned manufacturing process and testing of our design so that a future QL+ team could complete our project once campus facilities reopen. Although we were unable to produce a final product, our team is confident that our design will eliminate Dana’s problem of slipping while surfing, thus enabling him to further pursue surfing as a competitive sport

Maternidades e academia: experiências analíticas e políticas

Neste artigo, buscamos problematizar a maternidade no cotidiano das universidades como uma questão que traz dimensões reflexivas para a experiência de ensino-aprendizagem, para as relações intersubjetivas e para as problematizações teórico-analíticas produzidas na academia. Nossas análises sobre as relações entre maternidades e academia partem de nossas experiências como mães e pesquisadoras de temas relativos à maternidade e, em específico, sobre vivências e teorizações em torno da maternidade solo e do uso da terminologia monoparentalidade. É, então, a partir desse encontro entre as autoras, mas também delas com outras parceiras intelectuais e experienciais na academia que este texto busca problematizar como a construção de questões, a um só tempo, teóricas, políticas e experienciais, se dá atravessada pela experiência da maternidade como um marcador social da diferença

Adaptação transcultural e validação da Urinary Incontinence Scale After Radical Prostatectomy para o contexto brasileiro

Objetivo: Traduzir, adaptar e validar a Urinary Incontinence Scale After Radical Prostatectomy para o Brasil.Método: Estudo tipo metodológico: adaptação transcultural (tradução, síntese, retrotradução, comitê de especialistas (n=25), pré-teste (n=40) e apresentação para os autores originais) e avaliação das propriedades de medida (n=80). Os dados foram coletados entre janeiro de 2018 e fevereiro de 2019 em unidade oncológica. As propriedades de medida calculadas: validade estrutural, teste de hipótese, validade de critério e confiabilidade.Resultados: A versão brasileira denominou-se Escala de Incontinência Urinária Pós-Prostatectomia Radical. Um item foi excluído devido carga fatorial baixa (0,322). Identificouse correlação significativa entre escore total da escala e instrumentos aplicados (p<0,001). Homens incontinentes apresentaram maior escore no total da escala em relação aos continentes (p<0,001). Alfa de Cronbach foi 0,94 e confiabilidade composta 0,97.Conclusão: A versão brasileira foi considerada válida e confiável para avaliação da incontinência urinária em prostatectomizados. Palavras-chave: Incontinência urinária. Prostatectomia. Estudo de validação. Reprodutibilidade dos testes. Inquéritos e questionários

Distributed physical sensors network for the protection of critical infrastractures against physical attacks

The SCOUT project is based on the use of multiple innovative and low impact technologies for the protection of space control ground stations and the satellite links against physical and cyber-attacks, and for intelligent reconfiguration of the ground station network (including the ground node of the satellite link) in the case that one or more nodes fail. The SCOUT sub-system devoted to physical attacks protection, SENSNET, is presented. It is designed as a network of sensor networks that combines DAB and DVB-T based passive radar, noise radar, Ku-band radar, infrared cameras, and RFID technologies. The problem of data link architecture is addressed and the proposed solution described

Epigenetic control of alternative mRNA processing at the imprinted Herc3/Nap1l5 locus

Alternative polyadenylation increases transcriptome diversity by generating multiple transcript isoforms from a single gene. It is thought that this process can be subject to epigenetic regulation, but few specific examples of this have been reported. We previously showed that the Mcts2/H13 locus is subject to genomic imprinting and that alternative polyadenylation of H13 transcripts occurs in an allele-specific manner, regulated by epigenetic mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate that allele-specific polyadenylation occurs at another im-printed locus with similar features. Nap1l5 is a retrogene expressed from the paternally inherited allele, is situated within an intron of a ‘host ’ gene Herc3, and overlaps a CpG island that is differen-tially methylated between the parental alleles. In mouse brain, internal Herc3 polyadenylation sites upstream of Nap1l5 are used on the pater-nally derived chromosome, from which Nap1l5 is expressed, whereas a downstream site is used more frequently on the maternally derived chromo-some. Ablating DNA methylation on the maternal allele at the Nap1l5 promoter increases the use of an internal Herc3 polyadenylation site and alters exon splicing. These changes demonstrate the influ-ence of epigenetic mechanisms in regulating Herc3 alternative mRNA processing. Internal Herc3 polyadenylation correlates with expression levels of Nap1l5, suggesting a possible role for transcrip-tional interference. Similar mechanisms may regulate alternative polyadenylation elsewhere in the genome

Impacto da incontinência urinária na qualidade de vida de indivíduos submetidos à prostatectomia radical

Objetivo: avaliar o nível de incontinência urinária e o seu impacto na qualidade de vida de pacientes submetidos à prostatectomia radical. Método: estudo transversal, realizado com pacientes prostatectomizados. Os dados foram coletados a partir dos seguintes instrumentos: questionário sociodemográfico, Pad Test, International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire – Short Form e King Health Questionnaire. Os dados foram submetidos à análise estatística descritiva e bivariada. O nível de significância adotado foi de 0,05. Resultados: participaram 152 pacientes, com idade média de 67 anos. Entre os pacientes incontinentes, houve predomínio da incontinência urinária leve. A incontinência urinária causou impacto muito grave na avaliação geral da qualidade de vida nos primeiros meses e grave após seis meses de cirurgia. Quanto maior a perda urinária, maior impacto nos domínios da qualidade de vida Limitações Físicas, Limitações Sociais, Impacto da Incontinência Urinária e Medidas de Gravidade. A maioria dos participantes relatou ausência de ereção após a cirurgia e por isso não respondeu à questão referente à presença de incontinência urinária durante a relação sexual. Conclusão: o estudo evidenciou a ocorrência da incontinência urinária após prostatectomia radical em diferentes níveis e o seu impacto significativo na qualidade de vida dos homens merecendo intervenções para o seu controle.Objetivo: evaluar el nivel de incontinencia urinaria y su impacto en la calidad de vida de pacientes sometidos a la prostatectomia radical. Método: estudio transversal, realizado con pacientes prostatectomizados. Los datos fueron recogidos a partir de los siguientes instrumentos: cuestionario sociodemográfico, Pad Test, International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire – Short Form y King Health Questionnaire. Los datos fueron sometidos al análisis estadístico descriptivo y bivariado. El nivel de significancia adoptado fue de 0,05. Resultados: participaron 152 pacientes, con edad media de 67 años. Entre los pacientes incontinentes, hubo predominio de la incontinencia urinaria leve. La incontinencia urinaria causó impacto muy grave en la evaluación general de la calidad de vida en los primeros meses y grave después de seis meses de cirugía. Cuanto mayor la pérdida urinaria, mayor el impacto en los dominios de la calidad de vida Limitaciones Físicas, Limitaciones Sociales, Impacto de la Incontinencia Urinaria y Medidas de Gravedad. La mayoría de los participantes relató ausencia de erección después de la cirugía y por eso no respondió a la pregunta referente a la presencia de incontinencia urinaria durante la relación sexual. Conclusión: el estudio evidenció la ocurrencia de la incontinencia urinaria después de la prostatectomia radical en diferentes niveles y su impacto significativo en la calidad de vida de los hombres mereciendo intervenciones para su control.Objective: to assess the level of urinary incontinence and its impact on the quality of life of patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. Method: cross-sectional study carried out with prostatectomized patients. The data were collected from the following instruments: sociodemographic questionnaire, Pad Test, International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Short Form and King Health Questionnaire. Data were submitted to descriptive and bivariate statistical analysis. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: a total of 152 patients participated, with a mean age of 67 years. Among incontinent patients, there was a predominance of mild urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence had a very severe impact on the general assessment of quality of life in the first months and severe impact after six months of surgery. The greater the urinary loss, the greater the impact on the quality of life domains Physical Limitations, Social Limitations, Impact of Urinary Incontinence and Severity Measures. Most participants reported no erection after surgery and therefore did not respond to the question of the presence of urinary incontinence during sexual intercourse. Conclusion: the present study evidenced the occurrence of urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy at different levels and its significant impact on the quality of life of men, which reveals the need of interventions for controlling it

A consensus statement for trauma surgery capacity building in Latin America

Background Trauma is a significant public health problem in Latin America (LA), contributing to substantial death and disability in the region. Several LA countries have implemented trauma registries and injury surveillance systems. However, the region lacks an integrated trauma system. The consensus conference’s goal was to integrate existing LA trauma data collection efforts into a regional trauma program and encourage the use of the data to inform health policy. Methods We created a consensus group of 25 experts in trauma and emergency care with previous data collection and injury surveillance experience in the LA. region. Experts participated in a consensus conference to discuss the state of trauma data collection in LA. We utilized the Delphi method to build consensus around strategic steps for trauma data management in the region. Consensus was defined as the agreement of ≥ 70% among the expert panel. Results The consensus conference determined that action was necessary from academic bodies, scientific societies, and ministries of health to encourage a culture of collection and use of health data in trauma. The panel developed a set of recommendations for these groups to encourage the development and use of robust trauma information systems in LA. Consensus was achieved in one Delphi round. Conclusions The expert group successfully reached a consensus on recommendations to key stakeholders in trauma information systems in LA. These recommendations may be used to encourage capacity building in trauma research and trauma health policy in the region

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Synphilin-1 Enhances α-Synuclein Aggregation in Yeast and Contributes to Cellular Stress and Cell Death in a Sir2-Dependent Manner

© 2010 Büttner et al. 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.Background: Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the presence of cytoplasmic inclusions, known as Lewy bodies, containing both aggregated α-synuclein and its interaction partner, synphilin-1. While synphilin-1 is known to accelerate inclusion formation by α-synuclein in mammalian cells, its effect on cytotoxicity remains elusive. Methodology/Principal Findings: We expressed wild-type synphilin-1 or its R621C mutant either alone or in combination with α-synuclein in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and monitored the intracellular localization and inclusion formation of the proteins as well as the repercussions on growth, oxidative stress and cell death. We found that wild-type and mutant synphilin-1 formed inclusions and accelerated inclusion formation by α-synuclein in yeast cells, the latter being correlated to enhanced phosphorylation of serine-129. Synphilin-1 inclusions co-localized with lipid droplets and endomembranes. Consistently, we found that wild-type and mutant synphilin-1 interacts with detergent-resistant membrane domains, known as lipid rafts. The expression of synphilin-1 did not incite a marked growth defect in exponential cultures, which is likely due to the formation of aggresomes and the retrograde transport of inclusions from the daughter cells back to the mother cells. However, when the cultures approached stationary phase and during subsequent ageing of the yeast cells, both wild-type and mutant synphilin-1 reduced survival and triggered apoptotic and necrotic cell death, albeit to a different extent. Most interestingly, synphilin-1 did not trigger cytotoxicity in ageing cells lacking the sirtuin Sir2. This indicates that the expression of synphilin-1 in wild-type cells causes the deregulation of Sir2-dependent processes, such as the maintenance of the autophagic flux in response to nutrient starvation. Conclusions/Significance: Our findings demonstrate that wild-type and mutant synphilin-1 are lipid raft interacting proteins that form inclusions and accelerate inclusion formation of α-synuclein when expressed in yeast. Synphilin-1 thereby induces cytotoxicity, an effect most pronounced for the wild-type protein and mediated via Sir2-dependent processes.This work was supported by grants from IWT-Vlaanderen (SBO NEURO-TARGET), the K.U.Leuven Research Fund (K.U.Leuven BOF-IOF) and K.U.Leuven R&D to JW, a Tournesol grant from Egide (Partenariat Hubert Curien) in France in collaboration with the Flemish Ministry of Education and the Fund of Scientific Research of Flanders (FWO) in Belgium to JW, MCG and LB, a shared PhD fellowship of the EU-Marie Curie PhD Graduate School NEURAD to JW, MCG and LB, grants of the Austrian Science Fund FWF (Austria) to FM and DR (S-9304-B05), to FM and SB (LIPOTOX), and to SB (T-414-B09; Hertha-Firnberg Fellowship) and an EMBO Installation Grant, a Marie Curie IRG, and a grant of the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PTDC/SAU-NEU/105215/2008) to TFO. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Danos causados ao meio ambiente, animais e ao homem com a utilização de agrotóxico: revisão bibliográfica / Damage caused environment, animals and man with the use pesticides: bibliographic review

Os agrotóxicos são substâncias químicas, físicas e biológicas que tem como função, o extermínio de pragas que prejudicam as lavouras. Eram utilizados desde a era cristã, onde o piretro era o pioneiro em combater insetos que destruíam as plantações, também eram utilizados o enxofre e o calcário. Durante a década de 90 com a “Revolução Verde”, foram intensificados os produtos utilizados na agricultura sendo eles (pesticidas, praguicidas, defensivos agrícolas), começando a chamada, que tinha como função também, acabar com a fome mundial e controlar as pragas, aumento da produção, aumento de lucro, porém, acontecia o desequilíbrio ambiental como: de a contaminação de solo, rios, meio ambiente e de pessoas que sofrem com doenças causadas por agrotóxicos. Portanto, o objetivo do presente trabalho foi analisar os danos causados ao meio ambiente, animais e ao homem com a utilização de agrotóxico. Assim sendo, os produtos agrícolas têm uma grande importância para a produção nas plantações, e para gerar lucro aos produtores, mas sabemos que mesmo sendo eficientes no controle de pragas, esses produtos causam danos ao homem e ao meio ambiente, como doenças a saúde humana e destruição dos solos e rios. Por isso, é um produto que deverá ser usado conscientemente, para evitar danos ambientais e doenças as pessoas que consomem ou trabalham com esses produtos. Desta forma, o uso incorreto do agrotóxico causa sérios danos ao homem, como intoxicação alimentar, doenças hepáticas, teratogênicas, respiratórias, deformidades, infertilidade, câncer e envenenamento podendo levar a morte. Deste modo são materiais muito importantes para a produção agrícola, portanto, devem ser utilizados de maneira adequada e consciente para não prejudicar a saúde animal como intoxicação e futuras doenças