Anaerobic treatment of wastewater from coffee pulping in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) in two stages

In this work, the efficiency of two-stage upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors was evaluated in bench scale, for treating a liquid effluent from coffee pulping. Hydraulic detention times (HDT) were 4.0; 5.2 and 6.2 days, resulting in organic loading rates (OLR) of 5.8; 3.6 and 3.0g total COD per (L-d) in the first reactor (Rl) and HDT of 2.0; 2.6 and 3.1 days with OLR of 5.8; 0.5 and 0.4 g total COD per (L-d) in the second reactor (R2). The medium values of total COD affluent varied from 15.440 to 23.040 mg O 2/L, and in the effluent to the reactors 1 and 2 were from l.lOO to 11.500 mg 0 2/L and 420 to 9.000 mg O 2/L, respectively. The medium values of removal efficiencies of total COD and TSS varied from 66 to 98% and 93 to 97%, respectively, in the system of treatment with the UASB reactors, in two stages. The content of methane in the biogas varied from 69 to 89% in the Rl and from 52 to 73% in the R2. The maximum volumetric methane production of 0.483 m 3 CH 4per (m 3 reactor d) was obtained with OLR of 3.6 g total COD per (L reactor d) and HDT of 6.2 days in the Rl. The volatile fatty acids concentration was kept below 100mg/L with HDT of 5.2 and 6.2 days in the Rl and HDT of 2.6 and 3.1 days in the R2.

Tendência e determinantes do aleitamento materno exclusivo em crianças menores de 6 meses no município de Bauru-SP

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

Coesão familiar associada à saúde bucal, fatores socioeconômicos e comportamentos em saúde

Pesquisas sobre saúde geral têm relacionado coesão familiar a fatores socioeconômicos e comportamentais. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a associação entre coesão familiar e fatores socioeconômicos, comportamentais e de saúde bucal. Este foi um estudo transversal com amostra por conglomerados em dois estágios. A amostra randomizada de 524 adolescentes era proveniente de escolas públicas da cidade de Piracicaba-SP. As variáveis foram avaliadas por questionários autoaplicáveis e os dados de saúde bucal, pelos índices CPO e CPI. A coesão familiar percebida pelo adolescente foi avaliada por meio da escala de adaptabilidade e coesão familiar. Análise univariada e regressão logística multinominal mostraram que adolescentes com baixa coesão familiar apresentaram mais chance de terem baixa renda (OR 2,28 IC95% 1,14-4,55), presença de cárie (OR 2,23 IC95% 1,21-4,09) e baixa frequência de escovação diária (OR 1,91 IC95% 1,03-3,54). Adolescentes com alta coesão familiar apresentaram mais chance que adolescentes com média coesão de terem alta renda e fator de proteção contra o hábito de tabagismo. Desta forma, a coesão familiar percebida pelo adolescente associou-se com variáveis comportamentais, socioeconômicas e de saúde bucal, indicando a importância de uma abordagem integral da saúde do paciente.

COD, TSS, nutrients and coliforms removals in UASB reactors in two stages treating swine wastewater

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Doenças respiratórias e fatores associados: estudo de base populacional em São Paulo, 2008-2009

OBJETIVO: Estimar a prevalência de bronquite aguda, rinite e sinusite em crianças e adolescentes e identificar fatores associados. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal, de base populacional. Foi realizado inquérito domiciliar com 1.185 crianças e adolescentes de São Paulo, SP, de 2008 a 2009. Os participantes foram selecionados a partir de amostragem probabilística, estratificada por sexo e idade e por conglomerados em dois estágios. Para análise ajustada foi realizada regressão múltipla de Poisson. RESULTADOS: Dos entrevistados, 7,3% referiram bronquite aguda, 22,6% rinite e 15,3% sinusite. Após análise ajustada, associaram-se à bronquite aguda auto-referida: idade de zero a quatro anos (RP = 17,86; IC95%: 3,65;90,91), cinco a nove anos (RP = 37,04; IC95%: 8,13;166,67), dez a 14 anos (RP = 20,83; IC95%: 4,93;90,91), referir ter alergia (RP = 3,12; IC95%: 1,70;5,73), cor da pele preta/parda (RP = 2,29; IC95%: 1,21;4,35) e morar em domicílio com um a três cômodos (RP = 1,85; IC95%: 1,17;2,94); à rinite auto-referida: idade dez a 14 anos (RP = 2,77; IC95%: 1,60;4,78), 15 a 19 anos (RP = 2,58; IC95%: 1,52;4,39), referir ter alergia (RP = 4,32; IC95%: 2,79;6,70), referir ter asma (RP = 2,30; IC95%: 1,30;4,10) e morar em apartamento (RP = 1,70; IC95%: 1,06;2,73); à sinusite auto-referida: idade cinco a nove anos (RP = 2,44; IC95%: 1,09;5,43), dez a 14 anos (RP = 2,99; IC95%: 1,36;6,58), 15 a 19 anos (RP = 3,62; IC95%: 1,68;7,81), referir ter alergia (RP = 2,23; IC95%: 1,41;3,52) e apresentar obesidade (RP = 4,42; IC95%: 1,56;12,50). CONCLUSÕES: As doenças respiratórias foram mais prevalentes em grupos populacionais com características definidas, como grupo etário, doenças auto-referidas, tipo de moradia e obesidade.

Seleção genômica para características longitudinais de bovinos da raça Holandesa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Prevalence of asthma and risk factors associated: population based study in Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, 2008-2009

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of asthma and risk factors associated in children and adolescents. METHODS: Population-based cross-sectional study with 1,185 female and male children and adolescents carried out in the city of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, from 2008 to 2009. Data were collected through home interviews. Respondents were selected from two-stage (census tract, household) cluster random sampling stratified by gender and age. Multiple Poisson regression was used in the adjusted analysis between the outcome and socioeconomic, demographic, lifestyle and health condition variables. RESULTS: Of all respondents, 9.1% (95%CI 7.0; 11.7) reported asthma. After adjustment, the following variables were found independently associated with asthma: age (0 to 4 years vs. 15 to 19) (PR 3.18, 95%CI 1.20;8.42); age (5 to 9 years vs. 15 to 19) (PR 6.37, 95%CI 2.64;15.39); age (10 to 14 years vs. 15 to 19) (PR 4.51,95%CI 1.95;10.40); allergy (yes vs. no) (PR 2.22, 95%CI 1.24;4.00); rhinitis (yes vs. no) (PR 2.13, 95%CI 1.22;3.73); health conditions in the 15 days preceding the interview (yes vs. no) (PR 1.96, 95%CI 1.23;3.11); number of rooms in the household (1 to 3 vs. 4 and more) (PR 1.67, 95%CI 1.05;2.66); and skin color (black and mixed vs. white) (PR 2.00, 95%CI 1.14;3.49). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the importance of factors associated with asthma including rhinitis and allergy; age between 5 to 9 years old; black and mixed skin color; and household with few rooms. Frequent health problems are seen as a common consequence of asthma.

Anemia prevalence and its determinants in Brazilian institutionalized elderly

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of anemia and analyze the factors associated with anemia in elderly residents of long-term care institutions. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in male and female elderly volunteers selected in a two-stage random sampling from long-term care institutions in the city of Maringa, Brazil (2008). A diagnosis of anemia was based on the plasma hemoglobin concentration. The independent variables analyzed were gender, age, time of residence at an institution, body mass index, and serum iron and albumin concentrations. The association between anemia and the variables was assessed using the Poisson regression with robust variance in unadjusted and adjusted analyses, considering a complex sample and a significance level of 5%. Results: The sample included 124 adults older than 60 y residing in long-term care institutions (53.0% female). The prevalence of anemia was 29% and was not significantly associated with gender, serum iron concentration, time of residence at an institution, or body mass index. Conversely, hypoalbuminemia was considered a risk factor for anemia. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of anemia in the institutionalized elderly and hypoalbuminemia is a factor associated with this outcome. Interventions are necessary to promote improvements in the health and welfare of this population. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Antimicrobial activity of two techniques for arm skin disinfection of blood donors in Brazil

Objective: Evaluation of the antimicrobial effect of skin disinfection techniques is essential to avoid the transmission of infectious agents during blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of two methods of arm skin disinfection used in blood donors at a Hemotherapy Center in Brazil that represents an important centre for distributing haemocomponents to many cities in the country. Methods: Two skin disinfection techniques in 50 blood donors were evaluated. For the first arm, 10% povidone-iodine/two-stage technique was used. On the opposite arm, 0.5% chlorhexidine digluconate alcohol solution/one-stage technique was used. The swabs were seeded on three culture media: blood agar, mannitol salt agar and Mac Conkey agar. Automated bacterial classification based on biochemical tests/specific substrates was performed. Donor characteristics were collected using the computerised system of the Hemotherapy Center. Results: We found that microbial reduction was significantly higher for 10% povidone-iodine technique (98.57-98.87%) when compared with 0.5% chlorhexidine technique (94.38-95.06%). The species Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Staphylococcus hominis showed resistance to both disinfection techniques. We did not find statistically significant relationships between donor characteristics and microbial reduction. Conclusions: Arm skin disinfection with 10% povidone-iodine produced better antimicrobial activity. We must acknowledge that 10% povidone-iodine technique has the limitation of being a two-stage method. However, prevention of adverse events due to bacterial contamination and transfusion reactions should be prioritised. Production of hypoallergenic and stronger antiseptics that allowed a safe one-stage disinfection technique should be encouraged in health systems, not only in Brazil but also around the world.

Respiratory diseases and associated factors: population-based study in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2008-2009

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of acute bronchitis, rhinitis, and sinusitis among children and adolescents and identify associated factors. METHODS: This is a population-based, cross-sectional study. A household survey was conducted with 1,185 children and adolescents from the city of Sao Paulo (Southeastern Brazil), from 2008 to 2009. The participants were selected by means of probability sampling, stratified by sex and age, and by two-stage cluster sampling. For the adjusted analysis, multiple Poisson regression was used. RESULTS: Of the respondents, 7.3% reported acute bronchitis, 22.6% rhinitis and 15.3% sinusitis. After the adjusted analysis, the following characteristics were associated with self;reported acute bronchitis: age 0 to 4 years (PR=17.86; 95%Cl: 3.65;90.91), 5 to 9 years (PR=37.04; 95%CI: 8.13;166.67), 10 to 14 years (PR.=20,83; 95%Cl: 4.93;90.91), allergy (PR=3.12; 95%Cl: 1.70;5.73), black and mixed-ethnicity (black and white) skin color (PR=2.29; 95%Cl: 1.21;4.35), and living in a household with 1 to 3 rooms (PR=1.85; 95%Cl: 1.17;2.94). As to self-reported rhinitis, the following characteristics were associated: age 10 to 14 years (PR=2.77; 95%Cl: 1.60;4.78), 15 to 19 years (P.R=2.58; 95%Cl: 1.52;4.39), allergy (PR=4.32; 95%Cl: 2.79;6.70), asthma (PR=2.30; 95%CI: 1.30;4.10) and living in flats (PR=1.70; 95%Cl: 1.06;2.73). Concerning self-reported sinusitis, the following characteristics were associated: age 5 to 9 years (PR=2.44; 95%Cl: 1.09;5.43), 10 to 14 years (PR=2.99; 95%CI: 1.36;6.58), 15 to 19 years (PR=3.62; 95%Cl: 1.68;7.81), allergy (PR=2.23 (95%CI: 1.41;3.52) and obesity (PR=4.42; 95%Cl: 1.56;12.50). CONCLUSIONS: Respiratory diseases were more prevalent in population groups with defined characteristics, such as age group, self-reported diseases, type of household and obesity.

Quedas em idosos e sua relação com a capacidade funcional

OBJETIVO: determinar a prevalência de quedas em idosos e sua relação com a capacidade funcional. MÉTODO: trata-se de estudo epidemiológico transversal de base populacional, com uma amostra por conglomerado de duplo estágio de 240 sujeitos, com idade acima de 60 anos, de ambos os sexos, residentes em Ribeirão Preto, SP. Os dados foram coletados entre novembro de 2010 e fevereiro de 2011 e utilizaram-se os questionários: perfil social, avaliação de quedas, Medida de Independência Funcional e Escala de Lawton e Brody. Foi adotado o nível de significância de 0,05. Para a identificação da ocorrência das quedas e sua relação com a capacidade funcional, foram utilizadas razão de prevalência e de chances de prevalência e regressão logística múltipla. RESULTADOS: a média de idade foi de 73,5 anos (±8,4), 25% com 80 anos ou mais, predomínio do sexo feminino; 48,8% estudaram de 1 a 4 anos. Média de 1,33 quedas (±0,472); com maior prevalência em mulheres e idosos mais jovens; o local mais frequente foi o quintal e o banheiro. Houve forte correlação entre o nível de independência funcional e as atividades instrumentais com a idade, e não houve relação entre os idosos que sofreram queda e as variáveis sexo e idade. CONCLUSÃO: houve predomínio de mulheres que sofreram quedas relacionadas à independência funcional, podendo-se prevenir com estratégias de promoção à saúde ao idoso, política essa para oferecer condição de vida à pessoa no processo de envelhecer.

Diet and the risk of head and neck cancer: a pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium

We investigated the association between diet and head and neck cancer (HNC) risk using data from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium. The INHANCE pooled data included 22 case-control studies with 14,520 cases and 22,737 controls. Center-specific quartiles among the controls were used for food groups, and frequencies per week were used for single food items. A dietary pattern score combining high fruit and vegetable intake and low red meat intake was created. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the dietary items on the risk of HNC were estimated with a two-stage random-effects logistic regression model. An inverse association was observed for higher-frequency intake of fruit (4th vs. 1st quartile OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.43-0.62, p (trend) < 0.01) and vegetables (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.49-0.90, p (trend) = 0.01). Intake of red meat (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.13-1.74, p (trend) = 0.13) and processed meat (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.14-1.65, p (trend) < 0.01) was positively associated with HNC risk. Higher dietary pattern scores, reflecting high fruit/vegetable and low red meat intake, were associated with reduced HNC risk (per score increment OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.84-0.97).

The gender wage gap in developing and transition countries

The aim of my dissertation is to study the gender wage gap with a specific focus on developing and transition countries. In the first chapter I present the main existing theories proposed to analyse the gender wage gap and I review the empirical literature on the gender wage gap in developing and transition countries and its main findings. Then, I discuss the overall empirical issues related to the estimation of the gender wage gap and the issues specific to developing and transition countries. The second chapter is an empirical analysis of the gender wage gap in a developing countries, the Union of Comoros, using data from the multidimensional household budget survey “Enquete integrale auprès des ménages” (EIM) run in 2004. The interest of my work is to provide a benchmark analysis for further studies on the situation of women in the Comorian labour market and to contribute to the literature on gender wage gap in Africa by making available more information on the dynamics and mechanism of the gender wage gap, given the limited interest on the topic in this area of the world. The third chapter is an applied analysis of the gender wage gap in a transition country, Poland, using data from the Labour Force Survey (LSF) collected for the years 1994 and 2004. I provide a detailed examination of how gender earning differentials have changed over the period starting from 1994 to a more advanced transition phase in 2004, when market elements have become much more important in the functioning of the Polish economy than in the earlier phase. The main contribution of my dissertation is the application of the econometrical methodology that I describe in the beginning of the second chapter. First, I run a preliminary OLS and quantile regression analysis to estimate and describe the raw and conditional wage gaps along the distribution. Second, I estimate quantile regressions separately for males and females, in order to allow for different rewards to characteristics. Third, I proceed to decompose the raw wage gap estimated at the mean through the Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) procedure. In the second chapter I run a two-steps Heckman procedure by estimating a model of participation in the labour market which shows a significant selection bias for females. Forth, I apply the Machado-Mata (2005) techniques to extend the decomposition analysis at all points of the distribution. In Poland I can also implement the Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition over the period 1994-2004, to account for effects to the pay gap due to changes in overall wage dispersion beyond Oaxaca’s standard decomposition.

Classification Using Generalized Partial Least Squares

The advances in computational biology have made simultaneous monitoring of thousands of features possible. The high throughput technologies not only bring about a much richer information context in which to study various aspects of gene functions but they also present challenge of analyzing data with large number of covariates and few samples. As an integral part of machine learning, classification of samples into two or more categories is almost always of interest to scientists. In this paper, we address the question of classification in this setting by extending partial least squares (PLS), a popular dimension reduction tool in chemometrics, in the context of generalized linear regression based on a previous approach, Iteratively ReWeighted Partial Least Squares, i.e. IRWPLS (Marx, 1996). We compare our results with two-stage PLS (Nguyen and Rocke, 2002A; Nguyen and Rocke, 2002B) and other classifiers. We show that by phrasing the problem in a generalized linear model setting and by applying bias correction to the likelihood to avoid (quasi)separation, we often get lower classification error rates.

Bayesian Hierarchical Distributed Lag Models for Summer Ozone Exposure and Cardio-Respiratory Mortality

In this paper, we develop Bayesian hierarchical distributed lag models for estimating associations between daily variations in summer ozone levels and daily variations in cardiovascular and respiratory (CVDRESP) mortality counts for 19 U.S. large cities included in the National Morbidity Mortality Air Pollution Study (NMMAPS) for the period 1987 - 1994. At the first stage, we define a semi-parametric distributed lag Poisson regression model to estimate city-specific relative rates of CVDRESP associated with short-term exposure to summer ozone. At the second stage, we specify a class of distributions for the true city-specific relative rates to estimate an overall effect by taking into account the variability within and across cities. We perform the calculations with respect to several random effects distributions (normal, t-student, and mixture of normal), thus relaxing the common assumption of a two-stage normal-normal hierarchical model. We assess the sensitivity of the results to: 1) lag structure for ozone exposure; 2) degree of adjustment for long-term trends; 3) inclusion of other pollutants in the model;4) heat waves; 5) random effects distributions; and 6) prior hyperparameters. On average across cities, we found that a 10ppb increase in summer ozone level for every day in the previous week is associated with 1.25 percent increase in CVDRESP mortality (95% posterior regions: 0.47, 2.03). The relative rate estimates are also positive and statistically significant at lags 0, 1, and 2. We found that associations between summer ozone and CVDRESP mortality are sensitive to the confounding adjustment for PM_10, but are robust to: 1) the adjustment for long-term trends, other gaseous pollutants (NO_2, SO_2, and CO); 2) the distributional assumptions at the second stage of the hierarchical model; and 3) the prior distributions on all unknown parameters. Bayesian hierarchical distributed lag models and their application to the NMMAPS data allow us estimation of an acute health effect associated with exposure to ambient air pollution in the last few days on average across several locations. The application of these methods and the systematic assessment of the sensitivity of findings to model assumptions provide important epidemiological evidence for future air quality regulations.