Pessoas com dor e necessidades de intervenção: revisão sistemática da literatura

Objectivou-se determinar qual o impacto económico e social e as necessidades de intervenção por parte dos serviços de saúde, relativamente às pessoas com dor. Foi efectuada uma pesquisa na EBSCO (CINAHL, MEDLINE, British Nursing Index), utilizando-se o método de PI[C]O e seleccionados 19 artigos do total de 325 encontrados. A dor de tipo neuropática e a com localização músculo-esquelética foram identificadas como as maiores responsáveis pelos gastos em saúde. Como factores positivamente associados à relação custo-eficácia, encontrou-se: associação do regime terapêutico com estratégias não farmacológicas, intervenção de equipas multidisciplinares especializadas no controlo da dor, continuidade de cuidados na comunidade e uma linha telefónica de apoio permanente. Conclui-se que a dor causa significativa deterioração na qualidade de vida, com incalculável impacto no desempenho das actividades de vida diária

Simulation models for tankless gas water heaters

There is a growing concern about to the scarceness of natural resources and the emissions problematic. Water heating is a relevant part of a household’s energy use, and tankless gas water heaters (TGWH) are widely used. There are design and engineering challenges to develop more efficient devices, with lower emissions of pollutant gases and providing comfort improvements from the user point of view. The main objective of the present work is to provide mathematical models to evaluate and support the development of different TGWH configurations. By simulation, different hardware configurations and advanced control strategies can be tested and optimized regarding energy saving, reducing of harmful environmental emissions and increase of comfort indices by reducing temperature undershoots and overshoots. The TGWH individual components are modelled, laboratory tests are performed and the heat cell is parametrized with experimental data. Configurations with and without bypass function are performed for several water flow rates and setpoint temperature patterns in open loop and with feed-forward control.publishe

Comparative photodynamic inactivation of bioluminescent E. coli by pyridinium and inverted pyridinium chlorins

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a therapeutic approach in study due to the ability to reduce or completely eliminate the bacterial strains without the development of resistance mechanisms. In this therapeutic methodology the cationic chlorins (Chls) with pyridinium or inverted pyridinium moieties are one of the photosensitizers exploited in our biological approaches. In this context, we synthesized and characterized new free-base and zinc(II) complexes of pyridinium or inverted pyridinium Chl derivatives (1b, 2, 2a and 2b, respectively) for the inactivation of Escherichia coli (E. coli). The PDI assay was performed with white light irradiation delivered at a fluence rate of 25 mW cm−2. The obtained results of this study demonstrate high PDI efficiency of the zinc(II) metallated Chl 1b, reaching the detection limit of the bioluminescent method (5.2 log reduction) in 45 min of irradiation.publishe

Dye detoxification by Lentinula edodes INCQS 40220

Lentinula edodes belongs to the group of fungi known as ligninolytic fungi, due to its ability to degrade the aromatic structure of the lignin. Textile dyes also have aromatic structure, and after microbial degradation, some of them can be transformed into toxic compounds, when compared to the original structure, representing risk to environment and human health. Therefore, the potential of the fungus L. edodes INCQS 40220 to decolorize and to detoxify reactive red 198 (azo dye), reactive blue 214 (azo dye) and reactive blue 21 (cooper phthalocyanine dye) in a mixture (MXD), was evaluated. After 14 days of incubation, total decolorization in liquid media was obtained. The fungal treatment of MXD did not present toxic effects towards blood human cells. The genotoxicity of MXD, assessed by Comet assay, was efficiently reduced to 61% and in the Ames test presented negative response for mutagenicity for Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium TA97, TA98, TA100 and TA102 strains. The results indicated L. edodes INCQS 40220 efficiency on decolorization and genotoxicity reduction of a mixture of different dyes. Therefore, based on these results, obtained under laboratory conditions, L. edodes INCQS 40220 has potential for textile effluent treatment.Título PT: Detoxificação de corante por Lentinula edodes INCQS 40220Lentinula edodes pertence ao grupo de fungos conhecidos como fungos ligninolíticos, devido a sua habilidade de degradar estruturas aromáticas da lignina. Corantes têxteis também possuem estruturas aromáticas e, após a degradação microbiana, alguns destes corantes podem ser transformados em compostos tóxicos quando comparados à estrutura original, representando risco à saúde ambiental e humana. Portanto, o potencial do fungo L. edodes INCQS 40220 para descolorir e detoxificar a mistura de vermelho reativo 198 (corante azo), azul reativo 214 (corante azo) e azul reativo 21 (corante ftalocianina de cobre) foi avaliada (MXD). Após 14 dias de incubação, foi obtida descoloração total em meio líquido. O tratamento fúngico de MXD não apresentou efeitos tóxicos em células sanguíneas humanas. A genotoxicidade de MXD, avaliada por meio do Ensaio Cometa, foi eficientemente reduzida para 61% e, no teste de Ames, apresentou resposta negativa à mutagenicidade para Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium TA97, TA98, TA100 e TA102 strains. Os resultados indicaram eficiência de L. edodes INCQS 40220 na descoloração e redução de genotoxicidade na mistura de diferentes corantes. Portanto, com base nos resultados obtidos em condições de laboratório, L. edodes INCQS 40220 tem potencial para o tratamento de efluente têxtil

On the reliability of a simple method for scoring phenotypes to estimate heritability: A case study with pupal color in Heliconius erato phyllis, Fabricius 1775 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

In this paper, two methods for assessing the degree of melanization of pupal exuviae from the butterfly Heliconius erato phyllis, Fabricius 1775 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Heliconiini) are compared. In the first method, which was qualitative, the exuviae were classified by scoring the degree of melanization, whereas in the second method, which was quantitative, the exuviae were classified by optical density followed by analysis with appropriate software. The heritability (h2) of the degree of melanization was estimated by regression and analysis of variance. The estimates of h 2 were similar with both methods, indicating that the qualitative method could be particularly suitable for field work. The low estimates obtained for heritability may have resulted from the small sample size (n = 7-18 broods, including the parents) or from the allocation-priority hypothesis in which pupal color would be a lower priority trait compared to morphological traits and adequate larval development

Sub-femto-g free fall for space-based gravitational wave observatories: LISA pathfinder results

We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2 ± 0.1 fm s−2/√Hz or (0.54 ± 0.01) × 10−15 g/√Hz, with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8 ± 0.3) fm/√Hz, about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f ≤ 0.5 mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12 fm s−2/√Hz down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA

Oscillations and dynamics in a two-dimensional prey-predator system

Using Monte Carlo simulations we study two-dimensional prey-predator systems. Measuring the variance of densities of prey and predators on the triangular lattice and on the lattice with eight neighbours, we conclude that temporal oscillations of these densities vanish in the thermodynamic limit. This result suggests that such oscillations do not exist in two-dimensional models, at least when driven by local dynamics. Depending on the control parameter, the model could be either in an active or in an absorbing phase, which are separated by the critical point. The critical behaviour of this model is studied using the dynamical Monte Carlo method. This model has two dynamically nonsymmetric absorbing states. In principle both absorbing states can be used for the analysis of the critical point. However, dynamical simulations which start from the unstable absorbing state suffer from metastable-like effects, which sometimes renders the method inefficient.Comment: 7 eps figures, Phys.Rev.E - in pres

Cohort profile: the 100 million Brazilian cohort

The creation of The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort was motivated by the availability of high quality but dispersed social and health databases in Brazil and the need to integrate data and evaluate the impact of policies aiming to improve the social determinants of health (e.g. social protection policies) on health outcomes, overall and in subgroups of interest in a dynamic cohort. • The baseline of The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort comprises 131 697 800 low-income individuals in 35 358 415 families from 2011 to 2018. The Cohort population is mostly composed of children and young adults, with a higher proportion of females than the general Brazilian population, who identify themselves as Brown and live in the urban area of the country. • Exposure to social protection and the follow-up of individuals are obtained through: (i) deterministic linkage using the Social Identification Number (NIS) to link the Cohort baseline to social protection programmes and to periodically renewed socioeconomic information in Cadatro U ́ nico datasets; and/or (ii) non-deterministic linkage using the CIDACS-RL non-deterministic linkage tool, to link the Cohort baseline to administrative health care datasets such as mortality (Mortality Information System, SIM), disease notification (Information System for Notifiable Diseases, SINAN), birth information (Live Birth Information System, SINASC) and nutrition status (Food and Nutrition Surveillance System, SISVAN). • So far, studies have used The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort to investigate the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of leprosy, leprosy treatment outcomes and low birthweight and to evaluate the impact of the Bolsa Familia Programme (BFP) on leprosy and child mortality. Other studies are now being conducted that are of utmost relevance to the health inequalities of Brazil and many low- and middle-income countries, and many research opportunities are being opened up with the linkage of a range of health outcomes

Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the `ankle' in the cosmic-ray spectrum

We report a first measurement for ultra-high energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the `ankle' at $\lg(E/{\rm eV})=18.5-19.0$ differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass $A > 4$. Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavoured as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe