Diabetic Mastopathy: a Case Report

Diabetic mastopathy (DMP) is an uncommon collection of clinical, radiological, and histological features, classically described in premenopausal women with long-term insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. This entity can mimic breast carcinoma, but, in the appropriate clinical and imaging setting, the diagnosis can be made by core biopsy, avoiding unnecessary surgeries. We report the case of a 34-year-old female, with a 12-year history of type 1 diabetes, who presented with bilateral breast lumps. Mammography, ultrasonography, and magnetic resonance imaging could not exclude the suspicion of malignancy, and a core biopsy was performed showing the typical histologic features of DMP. The literature is briefly reviewed

Metodologia para diagnóstico e intervenção em edifícios correntes: habitação social no Porto e Recife

De acordo com o INE (2010), o parque de habitação social distribui-se por 246 Municípios, sendo constituído por cerca de 97 mil fogos e 22 mil edifícios. O município do Porto detém 12 682 fogos, correspondendo a 13% do total. Durante o ano de 2009 os municípios portugueses executaram obras de conservação em 2 252 edifícios (10,2% do total) e procederam à reabilitação de 6 636 fogos (6,8% do total). Este património municipal gerou, em 2009, uma receita média por fogo de 706 euros, entre rendas cobradas e fogos vendidos. Por seu lado a despesa média (incluindo os encargos fixos) ficou-se pelos 676 euros por fogo. Atendendo apenas a estas rubricas de receitas e despesas relacionadas com o parque de habitação social dos municípios, verifica-se a existência de um “défice” nas regiões do Norte de 12,7 milhões, o que demonstra o investimento em curso actualmente. O Município do Porto registou um défice superior a 1 000 euros por fogo (receita de 604 euros e despesa de 1 718 euros). A Habitação Social resulta de uma necessidade passada e presente de pensar nas pessoas, isto é, pensar numa política de valorização da qualidade de vida da população que passando muito pela habitação, não acaba nela. A política social da habitação dá início a um processo global de melhoria da qualidade de vida das pessoas, sendo necessário fazer coincidir a melhoria das condições de alojamento, com a melhoria das condições envolventes aos conjuntos habitacionais. Só com uma participação activa dos moradores é possível a sua identificação com o conjunto habitacional onde residem. A missão descrita é incompatível com habitação social em deficiente estado de conservação ou mesmo muito degradada, tal como se verifica em inúmeros países. Importa desta forma assegurar a reabilitação deste património construído e a sua posterior conservação. Nos últimos anos ocorreram desenvolvimentos muito significativos no que diz respeito à capacidade de utilizar técnicas experimentais (in situ ou em laboratório) e simulações em computador. Um aspecto relevante é que a engenharia “de conservação” deve ter uma abordagem e capacidade diferentes das usadas em construções novas. Frequentemente, os materiais e técnicas tradicionais são desconhecidos para os envolvidos. Também se verifica que a tendência das entidades reguladoras e dos projectistas para que os regulamentos actuais sejam cumpridos. Isto é muitas vezes inaceitável, visto que os regulamentos foram escritos tendo em mente outras formas de construção, pelo que a sua aplicação em materiais, tecnologias e formas tradicionais é excessivamente conservadora ou penalizadora. A necessidade de reconhecer a diferença entre o projecto moderno e a conservação também é relevante no contexto dos custos associados à contribuição da engenharia. O procedimento habitual de cálculo de honorários de engenharia, como uma percentagem do trabalho realizado, está claramente em oposição com as melhores práticas de conservação. Ser capaz de recomendar não tomar qualquer medida pode, na realidade, implicar mais estudos e mais custos reais do que uma recomendação para grandes intervenções. Os procedimentos das intervenções modernas exigem um levantamento cuidado da construção, bem como a compreensão da sua história, tendo em vista obter um diagnóstico claro, que requer muitas vezes técnicas de inspecção adequadas e experiência adquirida relevante, num processo muito semelhante à medicina Após reconstituir o historial do paciente (o edifício) e requerer exames (técnicas de inspecção e ensaios), é possível um diagnóstico. Este diagnóstico permite, se necessário, uma terapia adequada (projecto de intervenção) e o respectivo controlo de resultados (monitorização dos resultados). Tendo em vista demonstrar a abordagem metodológica necessária, no presente artigo serão apresentados casos de estudo em Portugal e Brasil, onde os autores estiveram envolvidos

In-Season Body Composition Effects in Professional Women Soccer Players

This study aimed to analyze anthropometric and body composition effects in professional soccer women players across the early and mid-competitive 2019/20 season. Seventeen players (age, height, body mass, and body mass index of 22.7 ± 6.3 years, 167.5 ± 5.6 cm, 60.7 ± 6.6 kg and 21.6 ± 0.2 kg/m2) from a Portuguese BPI League team participated in this study. The participants completed ≥80% of 57 training sessions and 13 matches. They were assessed at three points (before the start of the season (A1), after two months (A2), and after four months (A3)) using the following variables: body fat mass (BFM), soft lean mass (SLM), fat-free mass (FFM), intracellular water (ICW), extracellular water (ECW), total body water (TBW), and phase angle (PhA, 50 Khz), through InBody S10. Nutritional intake was determined through a questionnaire. Repeated measures ANCOVA and effect sizes (ES) were used with p < 0.05. The main results occurred between A1 and A2 for BFM (−21.7%, ES = 1.58), SLM (3.7%, ES = 1.24), FFM (4%, ES = 1.34), ICW (4.2%, ES = 1.41), TBW (3.7%, ES = 1.04). Furthermore, there were significant results between A1 and A3 for FFM (4.8%, ES = 1.51), ICW (5%, ES = 1.68), and PhA (10.4%, ES = 6.64). The results showed that the water parameters improved over time, which led to healthy hydration statuses. The training load structure provided sufficient stimulus for appropriate physical fitness development, without causing negative disturbances in the water compartments.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., Grant/Award Number UIDP/04748/202

Analyzing the Implementation of Lean Methodologies and Practices in the Portuguese Industry: A Survey

The mass production paradigm on which much of the industry was based has changed. The market is increasingly demanding, requesting diversity and products that are more and more adapted to personal wishes and requirements. This implies producing a greater diversity of products in smaller quantities. Competitiveness is enormous, which forces most companies to be truly effective and efficient, taking care of product quality, delivery time, and final cost. Lean methodologies have been a valuable aid in this field. The diversity of Lean tools has been shown to have answers to the most diverse challenges, and companies are aware of this, increasingly adopting methodologies and processes that aim to progressively reduce waste and adapting their production paradigm to what the market requires. This work intends to provide a vision, as global as possible, of the pathway of Lean implementation in the Portuguese industry. For this purpose, a survey was carried out with a significant sample of Portuguese industrial companies from a wide range of activity sectors. The data collected through the survey were treated statistically, and then a SWOT analysis of the results was performed, which provided a collection of precious information on the evolution of industrial companies in Portugal.The author CP was partially supported by CMUP, which is financed by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the project with reference UIDB/00144/2020. F.J.G.S. would like to thank INEGI Research Center due to its continuous support, namely to Jorge Seabra, as well as all remaining CETRIB/INEGI/LAETA teal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Manufacturing and characterization of coatings from polyamide powders functionalized with nanosilica

Polyamide coatings are thermoplastics with great advantages such as a good corrosion protection of the base metal and wear resistance. Their application as powder coatings is an environmentally friendly option that is currently attracting growing interest. However, during their life service, they can sometimes be exposed to conditions that they are unable to stand. In this work, a polyamide 11 (PA11) powder was reinforced with different percentages of silica nanoparticles (1â 3 wt. %). Powder mixtures were prepared through extrusion followed by compression molding processes to manufacture coatings. For the coatings under study, the effect of 500 h xenon exposure was studied in order to know their ultraviolet (UV) resistance. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests were performed to study changes in polymer structure and if they are affected by nanoparticles. The effect of nanoadditions and xenon exposure on hardness and stiffness were also evaluated. Furthermore, reciprocal wear tests were performed before and after irradiation, and the wear tracks were analyzed using optoelectronic microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, the aesthetic properties were measured. The results reveal improvements in mechanical and wear properties when 1% nanosilica is added to the PA11, which then become more relevant after xenon radiation exposure.This research was funded by Interreg SUDOE, through KrEaTive Habitat project (grant SOE1/P1/E0307

Estimation of energy consumption on the tire-pavement interaction for asphalt mixtures with different surface properties using data mining techniques

The energy or fuel consumption of the millions of vehicles that daily operate in road pavements has a significant economic and environmental impact on the use phase of road infrastructures regarding their life cycle analysis. Therefore, new solutions should be studied to reduce the vehicles energy consumption, namely due to the tire-pavement interaction, and contribute towards the sustainable development. This study aims at estimating the energy consumption due to the rolling resistance of tires moving over pavements with distinct surface characteristics. Thus, different types of asphalt mixtures were used in the surface course to determine the main parameters influencing the energy consumption. A laboratory scale prototype was developed explicitly for this evaluation. Data mining techniques were used to analyze the experimental results due to the complex correlation between the data collected during the tests, providing meaningful results. In particular, the artificial neural network allowed to obtain models with excellent capacity to estimate energy consumption. A sensitive analysis was carried out with a five input parameter model, which showed that the main parameters controlling the energy consumption are the vehicle speed and the mean texture depth.ERDF funds, through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme – COMPETE, and by national funds, through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, within the scope of the Strategic Project UID/ECI/04047/2013 and the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007633info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contribución para la caracterización bioclimática del Norte de Portugal. La transición florística atlántico-mediterránea.

Contribución para la caracterización bioclimática del norte de Portugal. La transición florística atlántico-mediterránea. Este trabajo se incluye en la serie de trabajos ya iniciados por Crespí et al. (2001), con el objetivo de contribuir al conocimiento bioclimático del Norte de Portugal, a través de la información florística presente. En este sentido, y para proceder a una posible cartografia de las áreas biogeográficas naturales desde una perspectiva termopluviométrica, son ahora introducidos 39 nuevos táxones para la relación ya existente. Los táxones analizados en esta aportación son: Anthemis triumfetti f. flosculosa, Arnica montana subsp. atlantica, Aster aragonensis, Carduus bourgeanus, Carduus carpetanus, Carduus platypus subsp. platypus, Carduus platypus var. granatensis, Carduus pycnocephalus, Centaurea cyanus, Centaurea geresensi, Centaurea herminii subsp. herminii, Centaurea langeana, Centaurea rivularis, Centaurea triumfetti subsp. lingulata, Leucanthemopsis pallida subsp.flaveola, Leucanthemopsis pallida subsp. pulverulenta, Leuzea rhaponticoides, Phalacrocarpum hoffmannseggii, Santolina rosmarinifolia, Santolina semidentata, Arbutus unedo, Cistus ladanifer, Cistus laurifolius, Cistus populifolius, Cistus psilosepalus, Cistus salvifolius, Erica arborea, Erica australis, Erica ciliaris, Erica cinerea, Erica lusitanica, Erica scoparia, Erica tetralix, Erica umbellata, Halimium lasianthum subsp alyssoides, Halimium lasianthum subsp lasianthum, Halimium ocymoides, Halimium umbellatum subsp umbellatum, Halimium umbellatum subsp. viscosum. De modo a poder alcanzar los objetivos propuestos, se procede a la aplicación de una rutina programática multivariada, basada en un sistema de información geográfico (SIG), a partir del cual cada uno de los táxones estudiados es georeferenciado sobre cartografía ambiental (confeccionada y publicada por el Instituto para a Conservação da Natureza, del Ministerio del Ambiente portugués), comparándola después con las caracterizaciones fitoclimáticas de Franco (1994) y de Costa et al. (1998). Los resultados obtenidos confirman no sólo un acusado efecto gradual de transición entre el área de influencia bioclimática atlántica y la mediterránea, como además la existencia de una tendencia de comportamiento fitoclimático intermedio, no considerada hasta el momento en las caracterizaciones bioclimáticas ya publicadas.Approach on the climatic characterization for Northern of Portugal. The atlanticmediterranean floristic transition. Thirty-nine specific and infraspecific taxa with different occurrences in the continental portuguese area are referred in the present work. In the light of these behaviours, the climatic and geomorphological variability of the North of Portugal has been important environmental factors to explain the floristic diversity in this part of the country. In this case, the taxa analysed are: Anthemis triumfetti f. flosculosa, Arnica montana subsp. atlantica, Aster aragonensis, Carduus bourgeanus, Carduus carpetanus, Carduus platypus subsp. platypus, Carduus platypus var.granatensis, Carduus pycnocephalus, Centaurea cyanus, Centaurea geresensi, Centaurea herminii subsp. herminii, Centaurea langeana, Centaurea rivularis, Centaurea triumfetti subsp. lingulata, Leucanthemopsis pallida subsp. flaveola, Leucanthemopsis pallida subsp. pulverulenta, Leuzea rhaponticoides, Phalacrocarpum hoffmannseggii, Santolina rosmarinifolia, Santolina semidentata, Arbutus unedo, Cistus ladanifer, Cistus laurifolius, Cistus populifolius, Cistus psilosepalus, Cistus salvifolius, Erica arborea, Erica australis, Erica ciliaris, Erica cinerea, Erica lusitanica, Erica scoparia, Erica tetralix, Erica umbellata, Halimium lasianthum subsp alyssoides, Halimium lasianthum subsp lasianthum, Halimium ocymoides, Halimium umbellatum subsp umbellatum, Halimium umbellatum subsp. viscosum. Because of the appropriate management of the floristic richness, a multivariate statistic routine is applied on a Geographical Informatic System (GIS) the chorological, geomorphological and climatic characterization for each one are described in this paper. The geological substrate and the altitudinal classes are focused for the geomorphological approach, as well as two biogeographic classifications are used to correlate the occurrence of the taxa and their bioclimatic preferences. In the light of this analytical scheme, every taxa is geo-referenced upon an environmental cartography (elaborated by the Instituto para a Conservação da Natureza), compared with the Franco´s (1994) and Costa´s et al. (1998) phytoclimatic characterizations. The results obtained are pointing out the floristic progressive differentiation between the atlantic bioclimatic influence and the mediterranean one, as well as the existence of an intermediate bioclimatic tendency which had never been considered so far

Modulated IR radiometry as a tool for the thickness control of coatings

The thickness of coatings can be determined using the data measured by Modulated IR Radiometry for sets of coatings, produced under specific controlled conditions: – Keeping constant all deposition parameters except the deposition time, coatings of approximately constant thermal transport properties, but different thickness are produced. The modulated IR phase lag signals measured for the coatings are calibrated with the help of signals obtained for homogeneous opaque reference samples of smooth surface. Quantitative results for the thermal transport properties are obtained using the inverse solution of the 2-layer thermal wave problem by which direct relations are established between the relative extrema of the inverse calibrated thermal wave phase signals measured as a function of the heating modulation frequency and the thermal coating parameters, the ratio of the effusivities coating-to-substrate, the coating's thermal diffusion time, and the coating thickness. The coating thickness values obtained by Modulated IR Radiometry are compared with the values measured by standard microscopic methods, and relative errors of 3 – 4% have been found for the coating thickness of a set of TiCO coatings on steel, presented here as an example.(undefined

Growth of melon cultivated under saline stress and potassium doses

O Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, em destaque a região da Chapada do Apodi, se destaca na produção e exportação de melão no País, em regime de irrigação, devido à distribuição pluvial baixa e irregular. A Chapada do Apodi possui dois aqüíferos subterrâneos; a do lençol menos profundo de alta salinidade, porém com menor custo de bombeamento, ocorrendo o contrário com o de maior profundidade. Objetivou-se, ante o exposto, avaliar o efeito de duas águas de salinidades diferentes (0,52 e 2,41 dS m-1), combinadas com cinco doses de K2O (218, 273, 328, 383 e 438 kg ha-1) sobre o crescimento do meloeiro (Cucumis melo L.), cultivar Goldex, utilizando-se do delineamento de blocos ao acaso, com parcelas subdivididas; amostras de planta foram coletadas aos 21, 28, 35, 49 e 63 dias após a semeadura, determinando-se a fitomassa seca das plantas, estas separadas em ramos (caule + folhas), flores e frutos; avaliou-se, também, a taxa de crescimento absoluto e relativo e a produção de frutos. Em geral, o crescimento do melão foi favorecido com o uso de água mais salina; a taxa de crescimento absoluto foi máxima entre 35 e 49 dias após a semeadura. Obteve-se maior produção de fitomassa total com 438 kg ha-1 de K2O e uso de água mais salina, ao final do ciclo.The region of 'Chapada do Apodi', in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, stands out in Brazilian production and exportation of melon. This region possesses two aquiffers, one of lower exploration cost, though of high salinity, another of low salinity, with higher cost and limited use. This work was carried out with the objective to evaluate the effect of waters of different salinities combined with five doses of K in the dry matter accumulation and productivity of the melon (Cucumis melo L.) cultivar Goldex. The experimental design adopted was split plot in completely randomized blocks. The melon crop was irrigated with low (0.52 dS m-1) and high (2.41 dS m-1) salinity water combined with five doses of K2O (218, 273, 328, 383 and 438 kg ha-1). Plants were collected at 21, 28, 35, 49 and 63 days after sowing, and were separated in branches (shoot + leaves), flowers and fruits, and the total dry matter of the aerial parts obtained by summation. The absolute and relative growth rates and the production of fruits were also evaluated. The absolute growth rate of the plant was maximum between 35 and 49 days. The highest total biomass was obtained with 438 kg ha-1 K2O and use of high salinity water at the end of crop cycle.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq