Results of a physical fitness program for a patient with severe hemophilia A

A hemofilia é uma doença que afeta a coagulação do sangue pela falta ou diminuição do fator de coagulação VIII ou IX. Esta deficiência faz com que a pessoa sangre por um tempo maior do que uma pessoa normal se não for medicada. Foi avaliado um indivíduo do sexo masculino de 31 anos com hemofilia A grave, artropatia hemofílica em cotovelo esquerdo e tornozelo direito. Foram realizadas 20 meses de treinamento resistido e aeróbio. As musculaturas envolvidas nos exercícios resistidos foram o peitoral maior, latíssimo do dorso, bíceps braquial, tríceps braquial, deltoide, quadríceps e isquiotibiais, sendo realizadas duas séries de 10 repetições para cada um e intervalo de 45 segundos, com intensidade de acordo com o teste inicial de 10 RM baseados na percepção de esforço de 11 a 13 da Escala de Borg. O exercício aeróbio foi realizado em bicicleta ergométrica horizontal com duração de 20 minutos, sendo aferida a frequência cardíaca de repouso, aos 10 e aos 20 minutos do exercício, e após três minutos do término. Nos seis meses antes de iniciar o programa o paciente sofreu três hemorragias, duas espontâneas, em cotovelo e tornozelo esquerdos e uma em coxa direita por pequeno trauma não identificado - em todas fazendo uso do FAH. Durante os 20 meses, o paciente teve uma hemorragia após oito meses de tratamento, no cotovelo esquerdo por trauma durante os exercícios após aumento de carga. Após este episódio, o paciente teve outro sangramento, porém espontâneo, na mesma articulação 12 meses depois. O menor ganho de força foi de tríceps braquial com 33% e o maior foi 257% em extensores de joelho, sendo a média de ganho geral de força muscular de 121%. A prática de exercícios físicos de forma supervisionada é um importante instrumento auxiliar no tratamento das pessoas com hemofilia, demonstrando a necessidade de treino de força e resistência muscular específico para este grupo de pessoas quanto à prevenção de lesões, evitando o desgaste e comprometimento do sistema musculoesquelético. O propósito deste estudo é apresentar os resultados obtidos em um programa de Condicionamento Físico, na prevenção de hemorragias de uma pessoa com hemofilia A grave e sua ação profilática, sem a administração do fator anti-hemofílico (FAH)Hemophilia is a blood clotting disorder that causes the decrease or absence of blood coagulation factors VIII or IX. This disease causes a person to bleed longer than a normal person if it is not treated. A 31-year-old male with hemophilic arthropathy in the left elbow and right ankle was evaluated. The program lasted 20 months, with aerobic and muscle strength training. The muscles involved were the pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, biceps brachii, triceps brachii, deltoideus, quadriceps femoris, and hamstring. The patient performed two series of 10 repetitions with 45 seconds between series. The intensity was based on the initial test of 10 maximum repetitions in accordance with the rate of perceived exertion on the Borg Scale. Aerobic exercise was performed on a horizontal stationary bike for 20 minutes. Pulse rate was registered at rest, after 10 and then 20 minutes of workout, and again after three minutes of recovery. Six months before the initiation of the fitness program the patient suffered three hemorrhages: two spontaneous in the left elbow and left ankle and one in the right leg due to a small unspecified trauma. All three hemorrhages were treated by means of clotting factors (CF’s). During the program period, the first hemorrhage treated with CF’s occurred in the left elbow by trauma after increasing the exercise load. Twelve months later, the patient had spontaneous bleeding in the same joint. The least improvement in strength was found for the triceps brachii with 33%, whereas the knee extensors improved the most with 257%. The average muscle strength increase was 121%. Monitored physical exercise is an important vehicle in treating of people with hemophilia, presenting the need for resistance training specific for hemophilic patients to prevent injuries and avoiding early wear of the musculoskeletal system. The objective of this study was to present the results of a physical activity program to prevent bleeding episodes in a person with severe hemophilia A and the prophylaxis without administering any clotting factor

Inteligência artificial aplicada na robótica / Artificial intelligence applied in robotics

A inteligência artificial é uma área multidisciplinar que usa técnicas de programação e procuram simular o problema resolvendo de maneira semelhante ao comportamento humano. Nos últimos anos o poder computacional se expandiu exponencialmente com as técnicas computacionais e, consequentemente, com o número de aplicações no mercado. Este trabalho busca apresentar seus principais conceitos e apresentar algumas das principais aplicações da inteligência artificial na robótica

Sítios Paleontológicos das Bacias do Rio do Peixe: Georreferenciamento, Diagnóstico de Vulnerabilidade e Medidas de Proteção

The abandoned state and depredation of the paleontological geosites at the Rio do Peixe basins have been for some time a reason for concern to authorities and the society. Removal of sand from the Monumento Natural Vale dos Dinossauros Park and removal of fossils from sites catalogued by SIGEP (Comissão Brasileira de Sítios Geológicos e Paleobiológicos) have been made public and recognized through this study. The aims of this paper are to: georeference the paleontological sites from the Rio do Peixe basins, provide a diagnostic of vunerability for these sites, and establish proposals for protection measures. Ten field work were carried out, in 2008 and 2009, by the technicians from DNPM. Besides a georeferenced map of the paleontological sites from the Rio do Peixe basins, nine factors that strongly contribute for the vulnerability of the sites were defined, the main ones being the natural action of weathering and the antropic action. Most of the studied sites have medium to high vulnerability degree. The most vulnerable site are: Pedregulho, Piau/Caiçara, Várzea dos Ramos, Lagoa dos Patos, Cabra Assada, and Matadouro. Currently, Matadouro Site can be considered a completely destroyed, being, its recovery no longer possible. Ten protection measures were proposed for these paleontological sites.O estado de abandono e depredação dos sítios paleontológicos das bacias do Rio do Peixe é motivo de preocupação para as autoridades e para a sociedade há algum tempo. Denúncias foram feitas e constatadas, tanto de extração de areia no Parque Monumento Natural Vale dos Dinossauros quanto de retiradas de fósseis de sítios cadastrados pela SIGEP (Comissão Brasileira de Sítios Geológicos e Paleobiológicos). O presente trabalho teve como objetivo georreferenciar os sítios paleontológicos das bacias do Rio do Peixe, definir um diagnóstico de vulnerabilidade desses sítios e estabelecer propostas para medidas de proteção. Foram realizadas dez etapas de trabalhos de campo, nos anos de 2008 e 2009, com o revezamento de técnicos do DNPM. Além de um mapa georreferenciado, com os sítios paleontológicos das bacias do Rio do Peixe, foram definidos nove fatores que contribuem mais acentuadamente para a vulnerabilidade dos sítios, sendo que a ação natural do intemperismo e a ação antrópica são os dois principais. A maioria dos sítios estudados possui vulnerabilidade de média a alta, sendo que os sítios com maior vulnerabilidade são: Pedregulho, Piau/Caiçara, Várzea dos Ramos, Lagoa dos Patos, Cabra Assada e Matadouro. Entre eles, atualmente, o Sítio Matadouro pode ser considerado como um sítio destruído, não sendo possível a sua recuperação. Dez propostas foram estabelecidas como medidas de proteção desses sítios paleontológicos

Measurement of the Lifetime Difference Between B_s Mass Eigenstates

We present measurements of the lifetimes and polarization amplitudes for B_s --> J/psi phi and B_d --> J/psi K*0 decays. Lifetimes of the heavy (H) and light (L) mass eigenstates in the B_s system are separately measured for the first time by determining the relative contributions of amplitudes with definite CP as a function of the decay time. Using 203 +/- 15 B_s decays, we obtain tau_L = (1.05 +{0.16}/-{0.13} +/- 0.02) ps and tau_H = (2.07 +{0.58}/-{0.46} +/- 0.03) ps. Expressed in terms of the difference DeltaGamma_s and average Gamma_s, of the decay rates of the two eigenstates, the results are DeltaGamma_s/Gamma_s = (65 +{25}/-{33} +/- 1)%, and DeltaGamma_s = (0.47 +{0.19}/-{0.24} +/- 0.01) inverse ps.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; as published in Physical Review Letters on 16 March 2005; revisions are for length and typesetting only, no changes in results or conclusion

Effects of plyometric training and creatine supplementation on maximal-intensity exercise and endurance in female soccer players

Objectives: To investigate the effects of a six-week plyometric training and creatine supplementation intervention on maximal-intensity and endurance performance in female soccer players during in-season training. Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Methods: Young (age 22.9 ± 2.5 y) female players with similar training load and competitive background were assigned to a plyometric training group receiving placebo (PLACEBO, n = 10), a plyometric training group receiving creatine supplementation (CREATINE, n = 10) or a control group receiving placebo without following a plyometric program (CONTROL, n = 10). Athletes were evaluated for jumping, maximal and repeated sprinting, endurance and change-of-direction speed performance before and after six weeks of training. Results: After intervention the CONTROL group did not change, whereas both plyometric training groups improved jumps (ES = 0.25-0.49), sprint (ES = 0.35-0.41), repeated sprinting (ES = 0.48-0.55), endurance (ES = 0.32-0.34) and change-of-direction speed performance (ES = 0.46-0.55). However, the CREATINE group improved more in the jumps and repeated sprinting performance tests than the CONTROL and the PLACEBO groups. Conclusions: Adaptations to plyometric training may be enhanced with creatine supplementation

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on TAVR Activity: A Worldwide Registry

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a considerable impact on the provision of structural heart intervention worldwide. Our objectives were: 1) to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) activity globally; and 2) to determine the differences in the impact according to geographic region and the demographic, development, and economic status of diverse international health care systems. Methods: We developed a multinational registry of global TAVR activity and invited individual TAVR sites to submit TAVR implant data before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the number of TAVR procedures performed monthly from January 2019 to December 2021 was collected. The adaptive measures to maintain TAVR activity by each site were recorded, as was a variety of indices relating to type of health care system and national economic indices. The primary subject of interest was the impact on TAVR activity during each of the pandemic waves (2020 and 2021) compared with the same period pre–COVID-19 (2019). Results: Data were received from 130 centers from 61 countries, with 14 subcontinents and 5 continents participating in the study. Overall, TAVR activity increased by 16.7% (2,337 procedures) between 2018 and 2019 (ie, before the pandemic), but between 2019 and 2020 (ie, first year of the pandemic), there was no significant growth (–0.1%; –10 procedures). In contrast, activity again increased by 18.9% (3,085 procedures) between 2020 and 2021 (ie, second year of the pandemic). During the first pandemic wave, there was a reduction of 18.9% (945 procedures) in TAVR activity among participating sites, while during the second and third waves, there was an increase of 6.7% (489 procedures) and 15.9% (1,042 procedures), respectively. Further analysis and results of this study are ongoing and will be available at the time of the congress. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic initially led to a reduction in the number of patients undergoing TAVR worldwide, although health care systems subsequently adapted, and the number of TAVR recipients continued to grow in subsequent COVID-19 pandemic waves. Categories: STRUCTURAL: Valvular Disease: Aorti

Overview of recent TJ-II stellarator results

The main results obtained in the TJ-II stellarator in the last two years are reported. The most important topics investigated have been modelling and validation of impurity transport, validation of gyrokinetic simulations, turbulence characterisation, effect of magnetic configuration on transport, fuelling with pellet injection, fast particles and liquid metal plasma facing components. As regards impurity transport research, a number of working lines exploring several recently discovered effects have been developed: the effect of tangential drifts on stellarator neoclassical transport, the impurity flux driven by electric fields tangent to magnetic surfaces and attempts of experimental validation with Doppler reflectometry of the variation of the radial electric field on the flux surface. Concerning gyrokinetic simulations, two validation activities have been performed, the comparison with measurements of zonal flow relaxation in pellet-induced fast transients and the comparison with experimental poloidal variation of fluctuations amplitude. The impact of radial electric fields on turbulence spreading in the edge and scrape-off layer has been also experimentally characterized using a 2D Langmuir probe array. Another remarkable piece of work has been the investigation of the radial propagation of small temperature perturbations using transfer entropy. Research on the physics and modelling of plasma core fuelling with pellet and tracer-encapsulated solid-pellet injection has produced also relevant results. Neutral beam injection driven Alfvénic activity and its possible control by electron cyclotron current drive has been examined as well in TJ-II. Finally, recent results on alternative plasma facing components based on liquid metals are also presentedThis work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014–2018 under Grant Agreement No. 633053. It has been partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Inovación y Universidades of Spain under projects ENE2013-48109-P, ENE2015-70142-P and FIS2017-88892-P. It has also received funds from the Spanish Government via mobility grant PRX17/00425. The authors thankfully acknowledge the computer resources at MareNostrum and the technical support provided by the Barcelona S.C. It has been supported as well by The Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), Project P-507F

Decline in subarachnoid haemorrhage volumes associated with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased volumes of stroke admissions and mechanical thrombectomy were reported. The study\u27s objective was to examine whether subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions demonstrated similar declines. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study across 6 continents, 37 countries and 140 comprehensive stroke centres. Patients with the diagnosis of SAH, aneurysmal SAH, ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions and COVID-19 were identified by prospective aneurysm databases or by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes. The 3-month cumulative volume, monthly volumes for SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling procedures were compared for the period before (1 year and immediately before) and during the pandemic, defined as 1 March-31 May 2020. The prior 1-year control period (1 March-31 May 2019) was obtained to account for seasonal variation. FINDINGS: There was a significant decline in SAH hospitalisations, with 2044 admissions in the 3 months immediately before and 1585 admissions during the pandemic, representing a relative decline of 22.5% (95% CI -24.3% to -20.7%, p\u3c0.0001). Embolisation of ruptured aneurysms declined with 1170-1035 procedures, respectively, representing an 11.5% (95%CI -13.5% to -9.8%, p=0.002) relative drop. Subgroup analysis was noted for aneurysmal SAH hospitalisation decline from 834 to 626 hospitalisations, a 24.9% relative decline (95% CI -28.0% to -22.1%, p\u3c0.0001). A relative increase in ruptured aneurysm coiling was noted in low coiling volume hospitals of 41.1% (95% CI 32.3% to 50.6%, p=0.008) despite a decrease in SAH admissions in this tertile. INTERPRETATION: There was a relative decrease in the volume of SAH hospitalisations, aneurysmal SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm embolisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings in SAH are consistent with a decrease in other emergencies, such as stroke and myocardial infarction

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio