Communication and Powering Scheme for Wireless and Battery-Less Measurement

The paper presents solution for wireless and battery-less measurement in the enclosed areas. The principle is based on passive RFID, nevertheless this paper is focused on high power-demanding applications such as MEMS accelerometers, gas sensors, piezoresistive strain gauges, etc. Standard FRID communication scheme (sensing the input current change on the primary side) cannot be used in this case, because the communication channel is overloaded by the high power load. Paper presents possible solution which is based on the dual frequency scheme – one frequency for powering and other for the communication. This is ensuring capability for measurement up to several centimeters on the frequency bands 125 kHz and 375 kHz. It can be suitable for continual measurement in isolated systems such as the rotating objects, concrete walls, enclosed plastic barrels, high temperature chambers etc

The BMM symmetrising trace conjecture for the exceptional 2-reflection groups of rank 2

We prove the symmetrising trace conjecture of Brou\'e, Malle and Michel for the generic Hecke algebra associated to the exceptional irreducible complex reflection group $G_{13}$. Our result completes the proof of the conjecture for the exceptional 2-reflection groups of rank 2.Comment: 17 page

CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY OF BRETYLIUM TOSYLATE: PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73174/1/j.1749-6632.1960.tb20087.x.pd

Tracking antibiotic resistance from hospital effluents to the surrouding environment

Nas últimas décadas, o papel do ambiente na disseminação de resistência a antibióticos de relevância clínica tem recebido especial atenção. Neste âmbito, as águas residuais hospitalares e municipais, onde resíduos de antibióticos e bactérias resistentes são descarregados, estão entre os mais importantes reservatórios ambientais. Porém, o seu papel na disseminação da resistência ainda está pouco compreendido. O principal objectivo deste estudo foi o de avaliar a relevância dos efluentes hospitalares na disseminação de bactérias resistentes a antibióticos e de genes de resistência no ambiente. O estudo focou-se num efluente hospitalar e nas águas residuais da estação de tratamento receptora (ETAR). Através da análise multivariada baseada nas variações da composição das comunidades bacterianas e das populações resistentes a antibióticos cultiváveis em função das variações da concentração de resíduos de antibióticos e metais, procurou-se compreender como se interligam estas variáveis. As correlações positivas significativas observadas sugeriram que a presença dos contaminantes químicos analisados poderia estar associada a rearranjos nas comunidades bacterianas ou à selecção de populações resistentes em águas residuais, principalmente em efluentes hospitalares. O potencial das águas residuais hospitalares e municipais como reservatórios de resistência a antibióticos foi de seguida investigado, usando como modelo membros da espécie Escherichia coli resistentes a quinolonas. Foi seleccionado um grupo de estirpes de E.coli resistentes a quinolonas, representativo de amostragens de águas residuais municipais e de ribeiras urbanas abrangendo um período de nove anos. A diversidade genética destes isolados foi avaliada com base em multilocus sequence typing (MLST), e esta informação foi comparada com dados dos isolados sobre a presença de determinantes genéticos associados com resistência a quinolonas e com outras características associadas a resistência. Assim, foi possível inferir sobre a ocorrência de disseminação vertical e/ou horizontal de resistência. A análise baseada em MLST demonstrou que isolados de diferentes tipos de água e datas de isolamento se agrupavam, sugerindo não só o carácter ubiquista de algumas linhagens, mas também a sua persistência em ambientes aquáticos. A indicação de disseminação vertical de resistência sugerida por estes dados foi confirmada pelo facto de que a resistência a quinolonas era essencialmente de base cromossómica. Apesar disso, a presença dos mesmos determinantes adquiridos de resistência a quinolonas e beta-lactâmicos e de replicões plasmídicos em E.coli de diferentes linhagens e origens sugeriu que estas bactérias têm um papel importante na transferência horizontal da resistência em ambientes aquáticos. Esta ideia foi reforçada pela observação de que alguns destes determinantes se encontravam em elementos genéticos conjugativos. Nesta fase, a questão era se as mesmas linhagens e genes encontrados em E.coli de ambientes aquáticos ocorriam em outros habitats. A mesma abordagem aplicada a um grupo alargado de isolados de origens diferentes mostrou que as mesmas linhagens podiam ser encontradas em pacientes hospitalares e em gaivotas, mas não em aves de rapina de uma reserva natural, sugerindo que algumas linhagens de E.coli podem ser disseminadas entre ambientes com influência humana. Sendo E.coli uma espécie comensal em animais e humanos, o estudo de um grupo bacteriano ambiental não associado com humanos era também de interesse. A escolha recaiu sobre o género Aeromonas e, numa perspectiva de continuidade com o trabalho prévio, foram seleccionadas estirpes resistentes a quinolonas. Surpreendentemente, apesar da fraca associação com humanos, observou-se que entre as Aeromonas spp. de efluente hospitalar se encontrava uma prevalência de resistência a antibióticos superior às da ETAR. O papel desta espécie como vector de disseminação de resistência foi evidenciado de várias formas. Primeiro, foi possível identificar em Aeromonas spp. do efluente hospitalar um gene de beta-lactamase previamente não descrito em Aeromonas spp. nem fora do contexto clínico. Segundo, viu-se que possuíam dois genes de resistência adquirida a quinolonas, um claramente ubíquo e outro de origem não clínica, o que pode ser interessante em estudos de fontes de dispersão de resistência. Terceiro, alguns dos genes de resistência a antibióticos podiam ser transferidos para E.coli por conjugação. Confirmou-se que Aeromonas spp. podem ser veículos relevantes de resistência, e que o hospital pode ser uma fonte importante de membros deste género. A transferência horizontal de genes por conjugação e o efeito de concentrações subinibitórias de antibióticos são temas chave para a compreensão da disseminação da resistência a antibióticos. Este tema foi investigado com base numa estirpe multiresistente de E.coli de efluente hospitalar. Observou-se que enquanto uma concentração subinibitória de ceftazidime aumentava significativamente a taxa de conjugação, tetraciclina produzia o efeito oposto. O plasmidoma conjugativo, que em média foi transferido em mais de 90% dos ensaios, incluía possíveis determinantes de persistência, de resistência a antibióticos e a metais, sugerindo a importância de fenómenos de co-selecção. Confirmou-se portanto que o efluente hospitalar é uma fonte relevante de bactérias resistentes a antibióticos e de determinantes de resistência para o ambiente.Over the last decades the environment has received particular attention regarding its role on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance of clinical relevance. Hospital and municipal wastewater, where antibiotic residues and resistant bacteria are discharged, are among the most obvious reservoirs. However, their role on the resistance dissemination is still poorly understood. The primary goal of this study was to assess the role of hospital effluent in the dissemination of antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. The focuses of the study were a hospital effluent and the wastewater of the receiving urban wastewater treatment plant. Multivariate analyses based on the variation of the composition of the bacterial communities and prevalence of antibiotic resistant culturable populations in function of variations on the concentration of antibiotic and metal residues were performed in order to search for possible correlations among these variables. The significant positive correlations observed were a possible indication that the presence of the analyzed chemical contaminants could be associated with rearrangements of the bacterial communities or selection of resistant populations in wastewater, mainly in hospital effluent. The potential of hospital and municipal wastewater as environmental reservoirs of antibiotic resistance was, thus, further investigated, using quinolone resistant Escherichia coli as model. A group of quinolone resistant E. coli strains representative of sampling events from municipal and hospital wastewater and urban streams, spanning a period of nine years, was selected. The genetic diversity of these strains was assessed based on multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and this information was compared with data onthe isolates regarding the presence of genetic determinants associated with quinolone and with other resistanceassociated traits. In this way, it was possible to infer about the occurrence of vertical and/or horizontal resistance dissemination. The MLST-based studies showed that strains from different types of water and isolation dates clustered together, suggesting not only the ubiquitous character of some lineages but also their persistence in aquatic environments. The indication of vertical resistance dissemination that these data suggested was confirmed by the fact that quinolone resistance was mostly chromosome-based. However, acquired genetic determinants of resistance to quinolones, to beta-lactams and plasmid replicons, found in the different E. coli lineages and origins, suggested that these bacteria play an important role on the horizontal transfer of resistance in aquatic environments. Indeed, some of these determinants were observed to be located in conjugative mobile genetic elements. At this stage, the question was if the same lineages and genes found in E. coli from aquatic environments could be found in other habitats. The same approach, applied to an extended set of isolates from different origins, showed that the same lineages could be found also in hospital patients and urban gulls, although not in birds of the prey from a natural reserve, suggesting that at least some E. coli bacterial lineages can be disseminated among the human-impacted environments. While E. coli is an human and animal commensal species, the study of an environmental bacterial group not associated with humans was also of interest and Aeromonas spp. were the choice, and, as a common point, quinolone resistant strains were selected. Surprisingly, in spite of the loose association with humans, Aeromonas spp. from hospital effluent showed higher antibiotic resistance prevalence among them than those from urban wastewater. The role of members of this species as vectors of resistance dissemination was evidenced in different ways. First, Aeromonas spp. from hospital effluent were found to harbor a beta-lactamase gene not previously described in Aeromonas spp. or outside the clinical settings. Second, they harbored acquired quinolone resistance genes that showed either ubiquitous distribution or a non-clinical origin, both interesting tools for source tracking surveys. Third, some of their antibiotic resistance genes could be transferred to an E. coli receptor via conjugation. Aeromonas spp. were confirmed as relevant carries of resistance and the hospital can be an important source for members of this genus. Conjugation and the effect of sub-inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics are two key issues in the understanding of the dissemination of antibiotic resistance, herein investigated based on a multidrug resistant E.coli isolate from hospital effluent. While a sub-inhibitory concentration of ceftazidime was observed to significantly increase the conjugation rate, tetracycline had the opposite effect. The conjugative plasmidome, which on average was transferred in more than 90% of the assays, included genes putatively associated with persistence, resistance to antibiotics and to metals, suggesting the importance co-selection phenomena. The hospital effluent was therefore confirmed as a significant source of antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance determinants to the environment

Social Web Applications as Means to Enhance Lifelong Learning and Professional Development of Teachers: A Tool to Support Assessment of Their Impact

The application of new technologies in classroom has made the need for constant professional development more important for teachers. They should be able to keep up with the technological development in the classroom. Their professional development includes constant upgrade of their skills and knowledge on how they can meet the needs of their students or address issues derived from ICTs application in classroom. Social Web applications are providing new opportunities to build and gain such professional development by assisting to remain current on skills and issues important for a professional role. Aim of the present work is to contribute to the assessment of impact of Social Web applications for teachers’ professional development by presenting specific case studies and proposing an ICT tool to be used for the collection of useful quantitative indicators supporting this impact assessment. The assesment derived from a specific showcase of its application, provided real case results on the usage of Social Web tools from teachers which could be a useful asset towards the design of teacher training programs for the effective use of social networking tools

A new technique for reconstruction of the aortic bifurcation with saphenous vein panel graft

A 60-year-old male patient presented with a false aneurysm of the common iliac artery and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus septicemia complicating previously placed kissing covered stents of the aortic bifurcation. We removed the prosthetic material and repaired the aortic bifurcation with a composite saphenous vein panel graft. To our knowledge, this technique is presented for the first time in the literature

T Regulatory Cells in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Current Knowledge and Future Prospects

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is one of the most diverse autoimmune diseases, regarding clinical manifestations and therapeutic management. Visceral involvement is often and is generally associated with increased mortality and/or permanent disability. Thus, a reliable assessment of disease activity is required in order to follow‐up disease activity and apply appropriate therapy. Several serological indexes have been studied due to their competence in assessing disease activity in SLE. Apart from conventional and currently assessed serological indexes, regulatory T cells (Tregs), a CD4+ cellular population of the acquired immune compartment with homeostatic phenotype, are currently under intense investigation in SLE. In this chapter, Tregs ontogenesis and subpopulations are discussed focusing on their implications in immunopathophysiology of SLE. The authors present data indicating that this CD4+ population is highly associated with disease activity and response to treatment, concluding that Tregs are a promising biomarker in SLE. Future prospective includes Tregs implication in SLE therapeutic interventions

COMPLEMENTARITIES BETWEEN INFORMATION GOVERNANCE AND BIG DATA ANALYTICS CAPABILITIES ON INNOVATION

Big data has seen an explosion in interest from private and public organizations over the last few years. Researchers and practitioners have delved into examining the shifts that these technologies en-tail and their overall business value. In this study we draw on the resource-based view and on recent literature on big data analytics, and address the interplay between BDACs and information governance in shaping innovative capabilities. We theoretically develop the idea that BDAC’s help enhance inno-vative capabilities, and that information governance strengthens this relationship. To test our proposed research model, we used survey data from 175 chief information officers and IT managers. By employ-ing partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), results confirm our assumptions regarding the positive effect that BDACs have on both incremental and radical innovative capability. We also show that the value of BDAC’s on radical innovative capability is amplified in the presence of strong information governance, which also has a direct impact of BDAC’s. Finally, implications for research and practice are discussed