Something moves: a philosophical and ethical praise to the combat practicing as art and education

In this work we tried to produce a philosophic-ethic praise to the Martial Arts` combat practice, based in our years of Martial Arts training accompanied with studies of oriental and occidental Philosophy. Tracing a critical history of the changes happened to the Martial Arts we brought the concept of combat as a martial practice of life empowerment. Opposing this, we presented the notion of fight as a result of the capture that the war arts suffered because of the despotic empires. Besides, we demonstrated that the combat practice is simultaneously an artistic and educational activity, because it aims at the production of an immanence field witch is loyal to the event.

Parametric change in the grammatical encoding of indirect objects in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper examines the syntax of indirect objects (IO) in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Adopting a comparative perspective we propose that BP differs from European Portuguese (EP) in the grammatical encoding of IO. In EP ditransitive contexts, IO is found in two configurations - one projected by a (low) applicative head and another one involving a lexical/true preposition. We propose that the former property is contingent upon the presence of dative Case marking: namely, the morpheme `a` that introduces IO (a-DP), whose corresponding clitic pronoun is `lhe/lhes`. In contrast, important changes in the pronominal system, coupled with the increase in the use of the preposition `para` are taken as evidence for the loss of the low applicative construction in BP. Thus only the configuration with the lexical/true preposition is found in (Standard) BP. We argue that the innovative properties of IO in BP are due to the loss of the (3rd person) dative clitic and the preposition `a` as dative Case markers. Under this view, we further account for the realization of IO as a DP/weak pronoun, found in dialects of the central region of Brazil, which points to a similarity with the English Double Object Construction. Finally we show that the connection between the morphological expression of the dative Case and the expression of parameters supports a view of syntactic change according to which parametric variation is determined in the lexicon, in terms of the formal features of functional heads.

IMAGE QUANTIFICATION FOR RADIATION DOSE CALCULATIONS-LIMITATIONS AND UNCERTAINTIES

Radiation dose calculations in nuclear medicine depend on quantification of activity via planar and/or tomographic imaging methods. However, both methods have inherent limitations, and the accuracy of activity estimates varies with object size, background levels, and other variables. The goal of this study was to evaluate the limitations of quantitative imaging with planar and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) approaches, with a focus on activity quantification for use in calculating absorbed dose estimates for normal organs and tumors. To do this we studied a series of phantoms of varying complexity of geometry, with three radionuclides whose decay schemes varied from simple to complex. Four aqueous concentrations of (99m)Tc, (131)I, and (111)In (74, 185, 370, and 740 kBq mL(-1)) were placed in spheres of four different sizes in a water-filled phantom, with three different levels of activity in the surrounding water. Planar and SPECT images of the phantoms were obtained on a modern SPECT/computed tomography (CT) system. These radionuclides and concentration/background studies were repeated using a cardiac phantom and a modified torso phantom with liver and ""tumor"" regions containing the radionuclide concentrations and with the same varying background levels. Planar quantification was performed using the geometric mean approach, with attenuation correction (AC), and with and without scatter corrections (SC and NSC). SPECT images were reconstructed using attenuation maps (AM) for AC; scatter windows were used to perform SC during image reconstruction. For spherical sources with corrected data, good accuracy was observed (generally within +/- 10% of known values) for the largest sphere (11.5 mL) and for both planar and SPECT methods with (99m)Tc and (131)I, but were poorest and deviated from known values for smaller objects, most notably for (111)In. SPECT quantification was affected by the partial volume effect in smaller objects and generally showed larger errors than the planar results in these cases for all radionuclides. For the cardiac phantom, results were the most accurate of all of the experiments for all radionuclides. Background subtraction was an important factor influencing these results. The contribution of scattered photons was important in quantification with (131)I; if scatter was not accounted for, activity tended to be overestimated using planar quantification methods. For the torso phantom experiments, results show a clear underestimation of activity when compared to previous experiment with spherical sources for all radionuclides. Despite some variations that were observed as the level of background increased, the SPECT results were more consistent across different activity concentrations. Planar or SPECT quantification on state-of-the-art gamma cameras with appropriate quantitative processing can provide accuracies of better than 10% for large objects and modest target-to-background concentrations; however when smaller objects are used, in the presence of higher background, and for nuclides with more complex decay schemes, SPECT quantification methods generally produce better results. Health Phys. 99(5):688-701; 2010

Ovarian reserve evaluation: state of the art

Purpose Revise role of hormonal basal and dynamic tests, as well as ultrasonographic measures as ovarian reserve markers, in order to provide better counseling to subfertile couples. Methods Review of publications on the topic, with an emphasis on recent well designed articles. Results Currently available ovarian reserve tests do not provide sufficient evidence to be solely considered ideal, even for premature ovarian senescence patients who do not present subfertility complaints. However, these markers occupy important place in initial approach to treatment of subfertile couples, predicting unsatisfactory results that could be improved by differentiated induction schemes and reducing excessive psychological and financial burdens, and adverse effects. Conclusions In order to remedy the limitations due to the scarcity of strong evidence about this topic, future studies should try to clarify predictive value of markers in groups of specific diseases-related subfertility and pay special attention to propaedeutic multivariate models including anti-Mullerian hormone and antral follicle count.

Ten-year survival of ART restorations in permanent posterior teeth

This study evaluated the 10-year clinical performance of high-viscosity glass-ionomer cement placed in posterior permanent teeth by means of the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) approach. One operator placed 167 single- and 107 multiple-surface restorations in 43 high-risk caries pregnant women (mean decayed teeth = 9.8 +/- 5.5). Examinations were performed at 1-, 2-, and 10-year intervals according to ART criteria. In the last evaluation, the US Public Health Service (USPHS) criteria were also used. After 10 years, 129 restorations (47.1%) were evaluated and achieved a cumulative survival rate of 49.0% (SE 7.2%). The 10-year survival of single- and multiple-surface ART restorations assessed using the ART criteria were 65.2% (SE 7.3%) and 30.6% (SE 9.9%), respectively. This difference was significant (jackknife SE of difference; p < 0.05). Using the USPHS criteria, the 10-year survival of single- and multiple-surface ART restorations were 86.5% and 57.6%, respectively. The primary causes of failure were total loss (9.3%) and marginal defects (5.4%). The survival rates observed, especially for the single-surface restorations, confirm the potential of the ART approach for restoring and saving posterior permanent teeth.

State of the art etch-and-rinse adhesives

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the therapeutic opportunities of each step of 3-step etch-and-rinse adhesives. Methods: Etch-and-rinse adhesive systems are the oldest of the multi-generation evolution of resin bonding systems. In the 3-step version, they involve acid-etching, priming and application of a separate adhesive. Each step can accomplish multiple goals. Acid-etching, using 32-37% phosphoric acid (pH 0.1-0.4) not only simultaneously etches enamel and dentin, but the low pH kills many residual bacteria. Results: Some etchants include anti-microbial compounds such as benzalkonium chloride that also inhibits matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in dentin. Primers are usually water and HEMA-rich solutions that ensure complete expansion of the collagen fibril meshwork and wet the collagen with hydrophilic monomers. However, water alone can re-expand dried dentin and can also serve as a vehicle for protease inhibitors or protein cross-linking agents that may increase the durability of resin-dentin bonds. In the future, ethanol or other water-free solvents may serve as dehydrating primers that may also contain antibacterial quaternary ammonium methacrylates to inhibit dentin MMPs and increase the durability of resin-dentin bonds. The complete evaporation of solvents is nearly impossible. Significance: Manufacturers may need to optimize solvent concentrations. Solvent-free adhesives can seal resin-dentin interfaces with hydrophobic resins that may also contain fluoride and antimicrobial compounds. Etch-and-rinse adhesives produce higher resin-dentin bonds that are more durable than most 1 and 2-step adhesives. Incorporation of protease inhibitors in etchants and/or cross-linking agents in primers may increase the durability of resin-dentin bonds. The therapeutic potential of etch-and-rinse adhesives has yet to be fully exploited. (C) 2010 Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.