Restraints to Anticoagulation Prescription in Atrial Fibrillation and Attitude Towards the New Oral Anticoagulants

Introdução e Objetivos: Avaliar a taxa de prescrição de anticoagulantes orais na fibrilhação auricular, os fatores associados à não prescrição, os motivos referidos pelos clínicos para não prescrição de anticoagulantes incluindo os de nova geração e realizar estudo evolutivo a médio prazo. Material e Métodos: Estudo prospetivo sobre casos consecutivos de doentes com fibrilhação auricular com alta hospitalar. Registaram- se os scores CHA2DS2VASc e HASBLED, comorbilidades associadas e a medicação prévia e à data de alta. Na alta hospitalar, o médico assistente indicou em questionário o motivo de não prescrição de anticoagulantes orais e dos novos anticoagulantes orais. Exclusão: contra-indicação absoluta para anticoagulação, CHA2DS2VASc ≤ 1 e doença valvular. Os doentes foram reavaliados um ano após o recrutamento do primeiro doente. Resultados: Identificaram-se 103 candidatos a anticoagulação oral (79,6 ± 8,0 anos; CHA2DS2VASc 5,8 ± 1,4; HASBLED 2,6 ± 1,0; HASBLED ≥ 3 em 55,3%); os anticoagulantes foram prescritos em 34,0%. Fatores associados à não prescrição por ordem decrescente de relevância: uso prévio de antiagregantes, doente acamado e/ou demente, ausência de insuficiência cardíaca e número de fatores de risco hemorrágico. Razões invocadas para não prescrição por ordem decrescente de frequência: risco hemorrágico elevado, pequeno benefício, incapacidade de seguir o esquema terapêutico e dificuldade na monitorização da razão normalizada internacional(INR). Os novos anticoagulantes não foram prescritos e as razões invocadas foram, por ordem decrescente de frequência: informação insuficiente sobre estes fármacos, risco hemorrágico elevado, custo elevado e pequeno benefício. Aos 8,2 ± 2,5 meses de estudo evolutivo 33,3% dos doentes encontravam-se sob anticoagulação sem que os novos anticoagulantes tivessem sido prescritos. Conclusões: Nesta amostra, a taxa de prescrição de anticoagulação oral foi baixa e o fator mais associado à não prescrição foi o uso prévio de antiagregantes. O impedimento à prescrição mais referido foi o risco hemorrágico, seguido do pequeno benefício reconhecido. Os principais impedimentos referidos à prescrição dos novos anticoagulantes foram a informação insuficiente e o alto risco hemorrágico. A médio prazo, a proporção de doentes sob anticoagulação mantinha-se baixa e os novos anticoagulantes não tinham sido prescritos

Measurement of the degree of Polarization Entanglement Through Position Interference

We produce polarization entangled states with variable degree of entanglement for twin photons. Entanglement in polarization is coupled to entanglement in position that produces transverse coincidence interference fringes. We show both theoretically and experimentally that, due to this coupling, we can use the interference pattern to measure the polarization degree of entanglement.Comment: 5 figure

External-facing assessments: Balancing the needs of students, external partner organisations and the public

Students producing work directed at an external audience - whether a formal assessment, a ‘showcase portfolio’, or a selection of work curated by students outside the curriculum - is emerging as a critical field of enquiry and practice. Drawing on three case studies this roundtable examines the challenges and opportunities as they embed external-facing assessments in programmes of study. After a brief introduction to the institutional context of UCL’s initiatives relating to the Connected Curriculum Collab projects, we will present three different examples: co-produced public facing assessments (Thomas Kador), peer assessments after group work (Pilar Garcia Souto) and the use of portfolios (Nicole Brown). In the subsequent discussion we aim to explore the opportunities for building capacity to establish partnerships between students, external partner organisations and the public. We also discuss the role that educational professionals and colleagues might have in mediating between the institution, its students, staff, and other stakeholders

Bats in a fragmented world

PhDHabitat loss and fragmentation are global threats to biodiversity, however, their impact on ecological function are not well understood. The Atlantic Forest hosts high levels of biodiversity and has experienced a long history of deforestation and fragmentation. To examine the consequences of fragmentation for functional and phylogenetic diversity, and for key ecological interactions, I studied bat metacommunity across this landscape. I conducted repeated surveys of bats in forest fragments and continuous forest sites at the Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçú. To characterize metacommunity structure and the drivers of species assembly, I combined an “elements of metacommunity structure” analysis with assessments of phylogenetic and functional diversity. I then applied a community occupancy model to evaluate the speciesspecific responses to habitat fragmentation and test whether landscape configuration or habitat structure predicted species occurrence. Finally, by using DNA barcoding to identify plant species recovered in the guano of bats, I reconstructed mutualistic batplant networks and determined how network architecture changed with fragmentation. My results revealed that while the bat metacommunity had a random structure, the meta-ensembles of phyllostomid and animalivorous bats showed nested and quasinested metacommunity structures, respectively. Species assembly was driven by stochastic processes in fragments, and by environmental filters in the continuous forest. Species occurrence showed a positive relationship with area, but the community occupancy models were not precise enough to differentiate responses to isolation and habitat structure. The structure of bat-plant networks was maintained in small fragments due to the persistence of generalists that perform seed dispersal. Although fragmentation of the Atlantic Forest has severe impacts on bat communities, this biome harbours a rich bat fauna at the metacommunity level. Small fragments may not support diverse bat faunas, but those surviving species still act as agents of seed dispersal and can contribute to forest regeneration and restoration.(A Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) through the ‘Science Without Borders’ programme

LINGUAGEM E SUBJETIVIDADE EM NIETZSCHE E FOUCAUL

Este artigo aborda as relações entre linguagem e subjetividade tomando como mote o pensamento de Nietzsche e de Foucault. Nietzsche trabalhou a questão da linguagem pelo menos em dois momentos cruciais de sua pesquisa: na juventude, em textos como Sobre verdade e mentira no sentido extra-moral, e na maturidade, como no Livro V de A gaia ciência e em outras publicações da época. Foucault também conferiu atenção ao tema em fases diferentes de sua produção. Já suas primeiras publicações, como a “Introdução a Binswanger”, constituíam pesquisas acerca do tema da linguagem, bem como As palavras e as coisas, até finalmente, em seus últimos textos, tratar a questão da relação entre a linguagem, a produção de verdade e a constituição de si. Percorreremos brevemente essas diferentes fases do pensamento dos dois autores para tentar encontrar relações de toque entre linguagem e subjetividade tal como cada um deles as concebeu e, por fim, demonstrar em que Foucault se afasta de Nietzsche nos seus últimos escritos no que tange a uma relação entre linguagem e subjetividade, em direção a uma política da verdade

Thermochromic Paints on External Surfaces: Impact Assessment for a Residential Building through Thermal and Energy Simulation

This work addresses the effect of using thermochromic paints in residential buildings. Two different thermochromic paint types were considered: One that changes properties through a step transition at a certain temperature, and another that changes properties in a gradual/linear manner throughout a temperature range. The studied building was a two-floor villa, virtually simulated through a digital model with and without thermal insulation, and considering thermochromic paints applied both on external walls and on the roof. The performance assessment was done through the energy use for heating and cooling (in conditioned mode), as well as in terms of the indoor temperature (in free-floating mode). Three different cities/climates were considered: Porto, Madrid, and Abu Dhabi. Results showed that energy savings up to 50.6% could be reached if the building is operated in conditioned mode. Conversely, when operated in free-floating mode, optimally selected thermochromic paints enable reductions up to 11.0 degrees C, during summertime, and an increase up to 2.7 degrees C, during wintertime. These results point out the great benefits of using optimally selected thermochromic paints for obtaining thermal comfort, and also the need to further develop stable and cost-effective thermochromic pigments for outdoor applications, as well as to test physical models in a real environment

Cannabidiol in neurological and neoplastic diseases: Latest developments on the molecular mechanism of action

As the major nonpsychotropic constituent of Cannabis sativa, cannabidiol (CBD) is regarded as one of the most promising therapeutic agents due to its proven effectiveness in clinical trials for many human diseases. Due to the urgent need for more efficient pharmacological treatments for several chronic diseases, in this review, we discuss the potential beneficial effects of CBD for Alzheimers disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and neurological cancers. Due to its wide range of pharmacological activities (e.g., antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties), CBD is considered a multimodal drug for the treatment of a range of neurodegenerative disorders, and various cancer types, including neoplasms of the neural system. The different mechanisms of action of CBD are here disclosed, together with recent progress in the use of this cannabis-derived constituent as a new therapeutic approach. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences by the internal grant for the implementation of a single scientific activity and by the National Centre for Research and Development by the grant ONKOKAN, INNOMED/I/11/NCBR/2014info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio