Investimento Materno: Um Estudo das Relações entre Variáveis Moduladoras sob Enfoque Evolucionista

O investimento Parental caracteriza-se como qualquer investimento realizado pelo genitor em um filhote, aumentando as chances de sobrevivência deste filhote (e, portanto, o sucesso reprodutivo do genitor), à custa da capacidade para investir em outros filhotes. Este investimento modula-se conforme variáveis ecológicas, características dos pais e da criança. A partir deste pressuposto, este estudo levanta a hipótese de que estes efeitos são mediados pelas expectativas de futuro das mães, que se alteram de acordo com os sinais do ambiente imediato de que o investimento presente pode ser vão na obtenção dos resultados desejados a longo prazo (o sucesso reprodutivo através do investimento parental, por exemplo). Os objetivos deste estudo, portanto, foram (1) verificar a emergência das variáveis latentes condições ecológicas, características da mãe, características da criança, expectativas de futuro e investimento materno; (2) testar um modelo multifatorial de funcionamento do investimento materno sendo influenciado por variáveis ecológicas, características da criança e da mãe por intermédio das expectativas de futuro; e (3) verificar a existência de correlação entre as variáveis observadas. Voluntariamente participaram neste estudo 98 mães de crianças de 0-9 anos, com renda familiar variando de R$102,00 a R$ 21.800,00, que vivem na região metropolitana de Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brasil. O instrumento foi composto por um questionário acessando (a) variáveis ​​da criança, (b) variáveis ​​da mãe, (c) variáveis ​​ecológicas (d) investimento materno (participação em vários tipos de cuidados), (e) expectativas de futuro, incluindo desconto do futuro, expectativa de vida e sentimentos sobre o futuro. Embora algumas correlações esperadas tenham ocorrido e os constructos latentes expectativas de futuro e investimento materno tenham emergido, os constructos condições ecológicas, características da mãe e características da criança não emergiram. O modelo de equações estruturais obtido indicou que as expectativas de futuro da mãe foram afetadas pelo sexo da criança e pela qualidade da vida familiar e, por sua vez, exerceram efeito leve sobre o investimento materno. A qualidade da vida familiar correlacionou-se negativamente com as expectativas de futuro das mães e as mães de meninas apresentaram maiores expectativas de futuro que as mães de meninos. A proximidade mãe-criança teve um efeito direto e forte sobre o investimento materno, não mediado pelas expectativas de futuro. Tanto as expectativas de futuro quanto a proximidade mãe-criança correlacionaram-se positivamente com o investimento materno. As variáveis ​​socioeconômicas foram negativamente correlacionados com desconto do futuro, como previsto pela literatura. Concluímos que, embora as expectativas de futuro expliquem em parte o investimento materno, outras variáveis do relacionamento mãe-criança independem daquelas e influenciam mais diretamente o investimento. Sugerimos que o conjunto de variáveis ​​que afetam as expectativas de futuro variam de acordo com características socioeconômicas da amostra. Estudos futuros devem investigar se variáveis ecológicas e biológicas (características da mãe e da criança) irão apresentar impacto sobre o investimento parental somente quando assumirem valores críticos, já que o investimento materno das participantes deste estudo pareceu estar mais sensível aos aspectos de relacionamento interpessoal. Palavras-chave: Expectativa de futuro; Modelos estruturais

Skin Lesion Segmentation Ensemble with Diverse Training Strategies

This paper presents a novel strategy to perform skin lesion segmentation from dermoscopic images. We design an effective segmentation pipeline, and explore several pre-training methods to initialize the features extractor, highlighting how different procedures lead the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to focus on different features. An encoder-decoder segmentation CNN is employed to take advantage of each pre-trained features extractor. Experimental results reveal how multiple initialization strategies can be exploited, by means of an ensemble method, to obtain state-of-the-art skin lesion segmentation accuracy

The Impact of Infectious Disease-Related Public Health Emergencies on Suicide, Suicidal Behavior, and Suicidal Thoughts:A Systematic Review

Background: Infectious disease-related public health emergencies (epidemics) may increase suicide risk, and high-quality evidence is needed to guide an international response. Aims: We investigated the potential impacts of epidemics on suicide-related outcomes. Method: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, PsyArXiv, medRxiv, and bioRxiv from inception to May 13–16, 2020. Inclusion criteria: primary studies, reviews, and meta-analyses; reporting the impact of epidemics; with a primary outcome of suicide, suicidal behavior, suicidal ideation, and/or self-harm. Exclusion criteria: not concerned with suicide-related outcomes; not suitable for data extraction. PROSPERO registration: #CRD42020187013. Results: Eight primary papers were included, examining the effects of five epidemics on suicide-related outcomes. There was evidence of increased suicide rates among older adults during SARS and in the year following the epidemic (possibly motivated by social disconnectedness, fears of virus infection, and concern about burdening others) and associations between SARS/Ebola exposure and increased suicide attempts. A preprint study reported associations between COVID-19 distress and past-month suicidal ideation. Limitations: Few studies have investigated the topic; these are of relatively low methodological quality. Conclusion: Findings support an association between previous epidemics and increased risk of suicide-related outcomes. Research is needed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on suicide outcomes

Mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal analyses of adults in the UK COVID-19 Mental Health & Wellbeing study

Background The effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the population's mental health and well-being are likely to be profound and long lasting. Aims To investigate the trajectory of mental health and well-being during the first 6 weeks of lockdown in adults in the UK. Method A quota survey design and a sampling frame that permitted recruitment of a national sample was employed. Findings for waves 1 (31 March to 9 April 2020), 2 (10 April to 27 April 2020) and 3 (28 April to 11 May 2020) are reported here. A range of mental health factors was assessed: pre-existing mental health problems, suicide attempts and self-harm, suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, defeat, entrapment, mental well-being and loneliness. Results A total of 3077 adults in the UK completed the survey at wave 1. Suicidal ideation increased over time. Symptoms of anxiety, and levels of defeat and entrapment decreased across waves whereas levels of depressive symptoms did not change significantly. Positive well-being also increased. Levels of loneliness did not change significantly over waves. Subgroup analyses showed that women, young people (18–29 years), those from more socially disadvantaged backgrounds and those with pre-existing mental health problems have worse mental health outcomes during the pandemic across most factors. Conclusions The mental health and well-being of the UK adult population appears to have been affected in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The increasing rates of suicidal thoughts across waves, especially among young adults, are concerning

Development of intermediate layer systems for direct deposition of thin film solar cells onto low cost steel substrates

The functionalisation of low-cost steel over large areas with low cost intermediate layers (ILs) for utilisation as substrates in thin film solar modules is reported. Three approaches for the deposition of ILs are demonstrated and evaluated; a thick SiOx sol–gel based on a one-step acidic catalysis applied by spray technique, a commercial screen-printable dielectric ink, and an epoxy-based material (SU8) deposited by screen printing or bar coating. These ILs demonstrated the properties of surface levelling (quantified by mechanical profilometry), electric insulation (tested using breakdown voltage and leakage current) and acted as an anti-diffusion barrier (demonstrated with glow discharge mass spectrometry). Moreover, the performances of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and organic photovoltaic (OPV) thin film solar cells grown on carbon and stainless steels (a-Si:H: 5.53% and OPV: 2.40%) show similar performances as those obtained using a reference glass substrate (a-Si:H: 5.51% and OPV: 2.90%). Finally, a cost analysis taking into account both the SiOx sol–gel and the dielectric ink IL was reported to demonstrate the economic feasibility of the steel/IL prototypes

Association of kidney disease measures with risk of renal function worsening in patients with type 1 diabetes

Background: Albuminuria has been classically considered a marker of kidney damage progression in diabetic patients and it is routinely assessed to monitor kidney function. However, the role of a mild GFR reduction on the development of stage 653 CKD has been less explored in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of kidney disease measures, namely albuminuria and reduced GFR, on the development of stage 653 CKD in a large cohort of patients affected by T1DM. Methods: A total of 4284 patients affected by T1DM followed-up at 76 diabetes centers participating to the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (Associazione Medici Diabetologi, AMD) initiative constitutes the study population. Urinary albumin excretion (ACR) and estimated GFR (eGFR) were retrieved and analyzed. The incidence of stage 653 CKD (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or eGFR reduction > 30% from baseline was evaluated. Results: The mean estimated GFR was 98 \ub1 17 mL/min/1.73m2 and the proportion of patients with albuminuria was 15.3% (n = 654) at baseline. About 8% (n = 337) of patients developed one of the two renal endpoints during the 4-year follow-up period. Age, albuminuria (micro or macro) and baseline eGFR < 90 ml/min/m2 were independent risk factors for stage 653 CKD and renal function worsening. When compared to patients with eGFR > 90 ml/min/1.73m2 and normoalbuminuria, those with albuminuria at baseline had a 1.69 greater risk of reaching stage 3 CKD, while patients with mild eGFR reduction (i.e. eGFR between 90 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) show a 3.81 greater risk that rose to 8.24 for those patients with albuminuria and mild eGFR reduction at baseline. Conclusions: Albuminuria and eGFR reduction represent independent risk factors for incident stage 653 CKD in T1DM patients. The simultaneous occurrence of reduced eGFR and albuminuria have a synergistic effect on renal function worsening

Computational Methods for Pigmented Skin Lesion Classification in Images: Review and Future Trends

Skin cancer is considered as one of the most common types of cancer in several countries, and its incidence rate has increased in recent years. Melanoma cases have caused an increasing number of deaths worldwide, since this type of skin cancer is the most aggressive compared to other types. Computational methods have been developed to assist dermatologists in early diagnosis of skin cancer. An overview of the main and current computational methods that have been proposed for pattern analysis and pigmented skin lesion classification is addressed in this review. In addition, a discussion about the application of such methods, as well as future trends, is also provided. Several methods for feature extraction from both macroscopic and dermoscopic images and models for feature selection are introduced and discussed. Furthermore, classification algorithms and evaluation procedures are described, and performance results for lesion classification and pattern analysis are given

Colour resistance of Zn–Ti coatings to corrosive environments

Adding titanium to a hot-dip galvanising bath, a coloured oxide film due to interference effect was obtained on iron samples; different colours were achieved varying the bath temperature in the range of 520–600°C. In this paper, the resistance of three colours (yellow, purple and light blue) to four corrosive environments (urban, marine, industrial and rural) has been investigated by means of an experimental approach: two specimens of each colour with titanium percentage of 0.2% were exposed for 1 year in each environment and colour measurements in CIE Lab coordinates have been recorded at fixed time intervals. Modification of colours on samples due to corrosion effects of different chemical agents was evaluated calculating CIE colour difference. Results demonstrated that the colour of the coatings have a good resistance to all kinds of atmospheres tested; so the performance of this galvanising bath resulted adequate for architectural application