Proxy-reported health-related quality of life of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Pediatric rheumatology international trials organization multinational quality of life cohort study

Objective. To investigate the proxy-reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and its determinants in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).Methods. In this multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional study, HRQOL of patients with JIA was assessed through the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) and was compared with that of healthy children of similar age from the same geographic area. of joint inflammation, Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate.Results. A total of 6,639 participants (3,324 with JIA and 3,315 healthy) were enrolled from 32 countries. The mean SD physical and psychosocial summary scores of the CHQ were significantly lower in patients with JIA than in healthy children (physical: 44.5 +/- 10.6 versus 54.6 +/- 4.0, P < 0.0001; psychosocial: 47.6 +/- 8.7 versus 51.9 +/- 7.59 P < 0.0001), with the physical well-being domain being most impaired. Patients with persistent oligoarthritis had better HRQOL compared with other subtypes, whereas HRQOL was similar across patients with systemic arthritis, polyarthritis, and extended oligoarthritis. A CHAQ score > 1 and a pain intensity rating > 3.4 cm on a 10-cm visual analog scale were the strongest determinants of poorer HRQOL in the physical and psychosocial domains, respectively.Conclusion. We found that patients with JIA have a significant impairment of their HRQOL compared with healthy peers, particularly in the physical domain. Physical well-being was mostly affected by the level of functional impairment, whereas the intensity of pain had the greatest influence on psychosocial health.

Strontium isotopes measurement from bunker cave system: a contribution for the multi-proxy paleoclimate research of Central Europe

In recent years speleothem has been intensely studied due to its great potential of registering paleoclimate proxies but some considerably uncertaintiesregarding speleothem proxy interpretation still exist. In order to minimize these uncertainties, multi-proxy approach has been used. Here is presented the strontium isotope record from Bunker cave, northwest Germany. This cave was previously studied and has proved well record paleoclimate changes during Holocene for central Europe.87Sr/86Sr ratio is presented for rain water, A-horizon soil (water and leachate), C-horizon soil (water and leachate), host rock and host rock leachate, drip water and from a stalagmite (Bu4) previously dated covering the Holocene. Upper soil presented the higher values in contrast with host rock (lower values). Drip water and C-horizon presented intermediated ratios. Sr isotopesare used to track the source of 87Sr/86Sr in the Bunker system, resulting in a mixture between A-horizon soil, C-horizon soil and host rock. A decreasing trend in Bu4 indicates change in the Sr source in the system

A new short and simple health-related quality of life measurement for paediatric rheumatic diseases: initial validation in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Objective. To develop and validate a new short and simple measure of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).Methods. The Paediatric Rheumatology Quality of Life Scale (PRQL) is a 10-item questionnaire that explores HRQL in two domains: physical health (PhH) and psychosocial health (PsH). Validation of the parent proxy report and child self-report versions of the instrument was accomplished by evaluating 472 JIA patients and similar to 800 healthy children. Validation analyses included assessment of feasibility, face and content validity; construct and discriminative ability; internal structure and consistency; test-retest reliability; responsiveness to clinical change; and minimal clinically important difference.Results. The PRQL was found to be feasible and to possess both face and content validity. The PRQL score correlated in the predicted range with most of the other JIA outcome measures, thereby demonstrating good construct validity, and discriminated well between different levels of disease severity. Assessment of internal structure (factor analysis) revealed that the PhH and PsH subscales identify two unambiguously separated domains. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.86. The intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.91. The PRQL revealed fair responsiveness, with a standardized response mean of 0.67 in improved patients. Overall, the PRQL appeared to be more able to capture physical HRQL than psychosocial HRQL.Conclusion. The PRQL was found to possess good measurement properties and is, therefore, a valid instrument for the assessment of HRQL in children with JIA. This tool is primarily proposed for use in standard clinical care.

Validade de histórias ocupacionais de informantes secundários

OBJETIVO: Embora sejam freqüentes os estudos epidemiológicos trazendo informações ocupacionais obtidas em entrevistas com familiares de trabalhadores, há poucos trabalhos analisando a validade dessas informações, sendo nenhum deles realizados em países em desenvolvimento. Objetivou-se estudar a validade do uso de informações ocupacionais obtidas de informantes secundários em estudos epidemiológicos, pela análise de concordância entre histórias ocupacionais obtidas em entrevistas independentes com os próprios trabalhadores e seus familiares. MÉTODOS: A história ocupacional de trabalhadores, residentes no Município de Botucatu, SP, em 1998, foi obtida por entrevistas com os próprios trabalhadores e com os familiares próximos. Calcularam-se a sensibilidade e a especificidade das informações ocupacionais dos familiares, considerando-se padrão-ouro a informação do trabalhador. Avaliou-se a concordância dos pares de informação pelo coeficiente Kappa. RESULTADOS: Foram entrevistados 2.163 pares trabalhador/familiar. A sensibilidade da informação ocupacional dos familiares variou entre 77,5% (IC95%; 64,6% -- 90,4%) e 98,9% (97,3% -- 100,0%), enquanto a especificidade variou entre 96,9% (96,0% -- 97,7%) e 99,9% (99,7% -- 100,0%). O coeficiente Kappa para a concordância da informação ocupação principal, segundo as duas fontes, foi de 0,86 (0,85 -- 0,88). CONCLUSÕES: A utilização de informações ocupacionais obtidas de informantes secundários, se tratadas como variáveis categóricas, tem validade. Utilizando-se informações relativas a tempos acumulados de trabalho, concluiu-se que informantes secundários subestimam os tempos de exposição quando comparados com os próprios trabalhadores.

Ventilation rates indicate stress-coping styles in Nile tilapia

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Partitioning the relative fitness effects of diet and trophic morphology in the threespine stickleback

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

U-ages in soils and groundwater evidencing wet periods 400-600 kyr ago in southeast Brazil

U-238 and its radiogenic daughter U-234 have been utilized for dating soil formation and groundwater residence time during the last 1.5 million years, in this case based on the U-clissolution/precipitation occurring during modifications of the oxidation-reduction conditions. In this paper, we report a 400-600 kyr proxy of wet periods from sediments occurring in a soil profile developed over rocks outcropping at the Parana sedimentary basin in Brazil, and from groundwater exploited of Guarani aquifer at the same basin. The approaches indicated successful use of the U-modeled ages for suggesting wet periods exceeding the past 116-210 kyr from previous studies. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Drill holes in shells of Permian benthic invertebrates

Newly discovered benthic fossils and specimens illustrated in the paleontological literature indicate that drilling predators (or parasites) were present in the Permian. New field data from southern Brazil document the first drill holes ever reported for Permian bivalve mollusks. In addition, a literature review revealed drill holes in shells of articulate brachiopods from Russia, Greece, and West Texas. Holes range in size from 0.1 to 5.8 mm and are typically round, cylindrical, singular penetrations perpendicular to the valve surface. Incomplete, healed, and multiple holes are absent. Drilling frequency, a proxy for predation intensity, is very low: less than 1 percent (this estimate may be seriously affected by taphonomic and monographic biases). Literature data suggest that frequency of drilled specimens varied significantly among higher brachiopod taxa. The geography and stratigraphy of drilled specimens indicate that drilling organisms were worldwide in their occurrence and continuously present in marine ecosystems throughout the Permian. This report is consistent with other recent studies indicating that although drillers were continuously present throughout the Phanerozoic, drilling intensity was lower in the Late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic.

Relação do perímetro escrotal com a média de peso do grupo contemporâneo para estimação de um modelo de ajuste

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A self-healing architecture for Web service-based applications

Web service-based application is an architectural style, where a collection of Web services communicates to each other to execute processes. With the popularity increase of developing Web service-based application and once Web services may change, in terms of functional and non-functional Quality of Service (QoS), we need mechanisms to monitor, diagnose, and repair Web services into a Web Application. This work presents a description of self-healing architecture that deals with these mechanisms. Other contributions of this paper are using the proxy server to measure Web service QoS values and to employ some strategies to recovery the effects from misbehaved Web services. © 2008 IEEE.

Interventions to promote the wearing of hearing protection

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Late Pleistocene and Holocene paleoenvironments in ponds and alluvial sediments of Upper Paraná River, Brazil

Freshwater sponge spicules were analyzed as a paleoenvironmental proxy indicator in five cores of ponds and alluvial fan sediments in the Upper Paraná River's left bank, near Querência do Norte town, northwestern of State of Paraná, southern Brazil. Two optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates were obtained from sediments of ponds and one radiocarbon (14C) date was obtained from the alluvial fan. Microscopic analysis of spicules preserved in the sediments allowed a determination of freshwater sponge species. The species assemblage provides evidence for dominantly dry conditions in the Upper Paraná River during the Late Pleistocene. A wetter climate phase was recognized at 14C 7,540 yrs BP, with alluvial fan formation commencing at the transition of the dry Pleistocene climate to the Early Holocene wet climate. This wet interval was characterized by a sponge assemblage marked by the presence of the Neotropical families and typically associated with lotic environments. Sponge spicules analysis from pond sediments reject the possibility that lotic environments contributed to pond genesis and evolution. © 2013 by the Sociedade Brasileira de Paleontologia.

Sistema nacional de inovação agrícola: um exame da interação entre Embrapa e as empresas privadas

Pós-graduação em Economia - FCLAR

Avaliação da qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde por meio do questionário CHQ-PF50® em crianças com distúrbios da evacuação

Pós-graduação em Pediatria - FMB

Gerenciamento integrado de rede local com software livre

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS