Um modelo de unit commitment hidrotérmico para o ambiente de mercados de energia

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Cost assessment of efficiency losses in hydroelectric plants

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Valorização de serviços ancilares de reserva em geradores hidrelétricos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Outbreak of fungemia caused by Candida parapsilosis in a neonatal intensive care unit: Molecular investigation through microsatellite analysis

Background: Opportunistic infections are an increasingly common problem in hospitals, and the yeast Candida parapsilosis has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen, especially in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) where it has been responsible for outbreak cases. Risk factors for C. parapsilosis infection in neonates include prematurity, very low birth weight, prolonged hospitalization, indwelling central venous catheters, hyperalimentation, intravenous fatty emulsions and broad spectrum antibiotic therapy. Molecular methods are widely used to elucidate these hospital outbreaks, establishing genetic variations among strains of yeast. Aims: The aim of this study was to detect an outbreak of C. parapsilosis in an NICU at the Hospital das Clinicas , Faculty of Medicine of Botucatu, a tertiary hospital located in São Paulo, Brazil, using the molecular genotyping by the microsatellite markers analysis. Methods: A total of 11 cases of fungemia caused by C. parapsilosis were identified during a period of 43 days in the NICU. To confirm the outbreak all strains were molecularly typed using the technique of microsatellites. Results: Out of the 11 yeast samples studied, nine showed the same genotypic profile using the technique of microsatellites. Conclusions: Our study shows that the technique of microsatellites can be useful for these purposes. In conclusion, we detected the presence of an outbreak of C. parapsilosis in the NICU of the hospital analyzed, emphasizing the importance of using molecular tools, for the early detection of hospital outbreaks, and for the introduction of effective preventive measures, especially in NICUs. © 2012 Revista Iberoamericana de Micología.

The rolling ball problem on the plane revisited

By a sequence of rollings without slipping or twisting along segments of a straight line of the plane, a spherical ball of unit radius has to be transferred from an initial state to an arbitrary final state taking into account the orientation of the ball. We provide a new proof that with at most 3 moves, we can go from a given initial state to an arbitrary final state. The first proof of this result is due to Hammersley ( 1983). His proof is more algebraic than ours which is more geometric. We also showed that generically no one of the three moves, in any elimination of the spin discrepancy, may have length equal to an integral multiple of 2 pi.