Silent circulation of Chikungunya virus among pregnant women and newborns in the Western Brazilian Amazon before the first outbreak of chikungunya fever

The prevalence of immunity to Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in pregnant women and newborns in the Western Brazilian Amazon was assessed at a time when previous studies did not report chikungunya fever in the area. In 435 asymptomatic pregnant women and 642 healthy unrelated newborns, the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to CHIKV were determined by a commercial ELISA. All participants were negative to IgM anti-CHIKV. Anti-CHIKV IgG was identified in 41 (9.4%) pregnant women and 66 (10.3%) newborns. The presence of anti-CHIKV IgG was positively associated with the lowest socioeconomic status in pregnant women (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.15-5.62, p=0.021) and in the newborns’ mothers (OR 5.10, 95% CI 2.15-12.09, p< 0.001). Anti-CHIKV IgG was also associated with maternal age in both, the pregnant women (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.00-1.11, p=0.037) and the newborns’mothers (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.03-1.12, p=0.001). Pregnancy outcomes in which the mother or the newborn was anti-CHIKV IgG positive proceeded normally. Negative CHIKV serology was associated with being positive for DENV antibodies and having had malaria during pregnancy. These findings showed that there was already a silent circulation of CHIKV in this Amazon region before the first outbreak of chikungunya fever. Furthermore, seropositivity for CHIKV was surprisingly frequent (10%) in both, pregnant women and newborns, affecting mainly low-income women

Shear Stress Sensing with Elastic Microfence Structures

In this work, elastic microfences were generated for the purpose of measuring shear forces acting on a wind tunnel model. The microfences were fabricated in a two part process involving laser ablation patterning to generate a template in a polymer film followed by soft lithography with a two-part silicone. Incorporation of a fluorescent dye was demonstrated as a method to enhance contrast between the sensing elements and the substrate. Sensing elements consisted of multiple microfences prepared at different orientations to enable determination of both shear force and directionality. Microfence arrays were integrated into an optical microscope with sub-micrometer resolution. Initial experiments were conducted on a flat plate wind tunnel model. Both image stabilization algorithms and digital image correlation were utilized to determine the amount of fence deflection as a result of airflow. Initial free jet experiments indicated that the microfences could be readily displaced and this displacement was recorded through the microscope

Business analytics in industry 4.0: a systematic review

Recently, the term “Industry 4.0” has emerged to characterize several Information Technology and Communication (ICT) adoptions in production processes (e.g., Internet-of-Things, implementation of digital production support information technologies). Business Analytics is often used within the Industry 4.0, thus incorporating its data intelligence (e.g., statistical analysis, predictive modelling, optimization) expert system component. In this paper, we perform a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on the usage of Business Analytics within the Industry 4.0 concept, covering a selection of 169 papers obtained from six major scientific publication sources from 2010 to March 2020. The selected papers were first classified in three major types, namely, Practical Application, Reviews and Framework Proposal. Then, we analysed with more detail the practical application studies which were further divided into three main categories of the Gartner analytical maturity model, Descriptive Analytics, Predictive Analytics and Prescriptive Analytics. In particular, we characterized the distinct analytics studies in terms of the industry application and data context used, impact (in terms of their Technology Readiness Level) and selected data modelling method. Our SLR analysis provides a mapping of how data-based Industry 4.0 expert systems are currently used, disclosing also research gaps and future research opportunities.The work of P. Cortez was supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. We would like to thank to the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions

Evolution of ICT for the improvement of quality of life

In today's society, chronic diseases are a well-known issue related to the average increasing age of a population, especially in the most developed countries. The elderly, who are often the most impaired individuals, experience a significant reduction of independence in their daily life. This, consequently, affects their psychological conditions as well as their social attitudes and relationships. Therefore, industry, academia, and government health organizations are actively investigating and testing large-scale affordable solutions to improve the overall Quality of Life (QoL) in this population

Writing to argue: Writing as a tool for oral and written argumentation.

This exploratory study aimed at investigating the relationship between writing strategies and the quality of oral and written argumentation in 124 high-school students. Half participants attended a series of workshops on writing to argue led by a researcher, while the other students were involved by their teachers in regular classroom activities. In order to analyze students\u2019 abilities in argumentative speaking and writing, they were all asked to participate in a debate, as well as to write an argumentative essay, during pre- and post-intervention sessions. Moreover, participants\u2019 previous knowledge about the topic, their stance toward the issue, their reasoning skills and their beliefs and experiences about argumentation and writing were also collected through five questionnaires and subsequently analyzed. Findings and empirical implications will be discussed

An application of Brain Computer Interface in chronic stroke to improve arm reaching function exploiting Operant Learning strategy and Brain Plasticity

The paper deals with a specific kind of BCI application implemented with the aim of recovering the reaching ability of mild impaired stroke survivors. The overall idea is to take advantage of the plasticity of the brain to make the subject artificially learn alternative neural paths to control the arm movement again, bypassing the injured area thanks to a BCI system with an EEG-related force provided as a real-time feedback during the training period. Preliminary results have shown improvements in the kinematics of the upper limb motion of a first patient that performed this experimental rehabilitative program. Then, this BCI application is expected to enter soon the daily clinical practise as a useful tool besides the standard rehabilitation therapy

Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) in Gynecology: State of the Art and the Problem of Barriers

Objectives: The advantages of the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols application in all surgical branches have been largely demonstrated, even though there is a lack of a strong evidence from randomized trial and the evidence regarding the multimodal-ity treatments is of low grade. Moreover, the problem of the barriers to the implementation of these protocols in clinical practice remains an unsolved problem. Mechanism: We performed a narrative review reporting the main barriers and enablers on the subject. Finding in Brief: The main barriers are resistance to change, lack of support from institutions and of financial resources or manpower, poor communication and collaboration within the multidisciplinary team, organizational problems, lack of standardized protocols, patient related barriers (individual factors, reluctance, or inadequate education) and lastly clinical practice in small community hospitals. To overcome these problems, several enablers have been identified including: the involvement of the patient, the reorganization of care sys-tems through standardized ERAS protocols, identification of a leader/coordinator, promotion of teamwork and staff education, financial resources, and the recognition of the role of the professionals involved. Conclusions: At this moment, resistance to change remains the most frequent and difficult barrier to overcome and, in our opinion, a reorganization of the health system aiming to the implementation of the ERAS protocols in the clinical practice is required

Brain-Computer Interface in chronic stroke: an application of sensorimotor closed-loop with contingent force feedback

Stroke injury is one of the leading causes of motor impairment in the modern society. Recently Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have been used in the recovery of motor functions [1], [2]: indeed, the closed loop involving sensorimotor brain rhythms (SMR), assistive-robot training and proprioceptive feedback in an operant learning fashion might potentially be one of the most effective way to promote the neural plasticity of the damaged brain hemisphere and to restore motor abilities [3]. Thank to such a BCI treatment, one stroke patient learnt to control μ and lower β rhythms in his ipsilesional brain hemisphere and improved his upper limb control in a standard 2D reaching task