The impact of living on the streets on latency children's friendships

OBJECTIVE: This is a study to evaluate friendships in latency street boys of Porto Alegre, RGS, Brazil. METHODS: A sample of 30 latency street boys was compared with a sample of 51 latency boys living with their low income families, using the Cornell Interview of Peers and Friends (CIPF). RESULTS: The two groups had a significantly different CIPF global scores, and the boys of the street group had the highest mean score. Also, boys of the street had significantly lower developmental appropriateness, self-esteem and social skills scores than boys living with a family. CONCLUSIONS: The urgent need for intervention street children, especially on boys of the street, is emphasized.

Environmental impact on the bacteriological quality of domestic water supplies in Lagos, Nigeria

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of town planning, infrastructure, sanitation and rainfall on the bacteriological quality of domestic water supplies. METHODS: Water samples obtained from deep and shallow wells, boreholes and public taps were cultured to determine the most probable number of Escherichia coli and total coliform using the multiple tube technique. Presence of enteric pathogens was detected using selective and differential media. Samples were collected during both periods of heavy and low rainfall and from municipalities that are unique with respect to infrastructure planning, town planning and sanitation. RESULTS: Contamination of treated and pipe distributed water was related with distance of the collection point from a utility station. Faults in pipelines increased the rate of contamination (p<0.5) and this occurred mostly in densely populated areas with dilapidated infrastructure. Wastewater from drains was the main source of contamination of pipe-borne water. Shallow wells were more contaminated than deep wells and boreholes and contamination was higher during period of heavy rainfall (p<0.05). E. coli and enteric pathogens were isolated from contaminated supplies. CONCLUSIONS: Poor town planning, dilapidated infrastructure and indiscriminate siting of wells and boreholes contributed to the low bacteriological quality of domestic water supplies. Rainfall accentuated the impact.

Impact of Sahara dust transport on Cape Verde atmospheric element particles

The objectives of this study were to (1) conduct an elemental characterization of airborne particles sampled in Cape Verde and (2) assess the influence of Sahara desert on local suspended particles. Particulate matter (PM10) was collected in Praia city (14°94'N; 23°49'W) with a low-volume sampler in order to characterize its chemical composition by k0-INAA. The filter samples were first weighed and subsequently irradiated at the Portuguese Research Reactor. Results showed that PM10 concentrations in Cape Verde markedly exceeded the health-based air quality standards defined by the European Union (EU), World Health Organization (WHO), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in part due to the influence of Sahara dust transport. The PM10 composition was characterized essentially by high concentrations of elements originating from the soil (K, Sm, Co, Fe, Sc, Rb, Cr, Ce, and Ba) and sea (Na), and low concentrations of anthropogenic elements (As, Zn, and Sb). In addition, the high concentrations of PM measured in Cape Verde suggest that health of the population may be less affected compared with other sites where PM10 concentrations are lower but more enriched with toxic elements.

Edible Azorean macroalgae as source of rich nutrients with impact on human health

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of academic exposure on health status of university students

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of academic life on health status of university students. METHODS: Longitudinal study including 154 undergraduate students from the Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal, with at least two years of follow-up observations. Sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics were collected using questionnaires. Students' weight, height, blood pressure, serum glucose, serum lipids and serum homocysteine levels were measured. Regression analysis was performed using linear mixed-effect models, allowing for random effects at the participant level. RESULTS: A higher rate of dyslipidemia (44.0% vs. 28.6%), overweight (16.3% vs. 12.5%) and smoking (19.3% vs. 0.0%) was found among students exposed to the academic life when compared to freshmen. Physical inactivity was about 80%. Total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, and physical activity levels were significantly associated with gender (p<0.001). Academic exposure was associated with increased low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (about 1.12 times), and marginally with total cholesterol levels (p=0.041). CONCLUSIONS: High education level does not seem to have a protective effect favoring a healthier lifestyle and being enrolled in health-related areas does not seem either to positively affect students' behaviors. Increased risk factors for non-transmissible diseases in university students raise concerns about their well-being. These results should support the implementation of health promotion and prevention programs at universities.

Is adolescent pregnancy a risk factor for low birth weight?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether adolescent pregnancy is a risk factor for low birth weight (LBW) babies. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of mothers and their newborns from a birth cohort in Aracaju, Northeastern Brazil. Data were collected consecutively from March to July 2005. Information collected included socioeconomic, biological and reproductive aspects of the mothers, using a standardized questionnaire. The impact of early pregnancy on birth weight was evaluated by multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: We studied 4,746 pairs of mothers and their babies. Of these, 20.6% were adolescents (< 20 years of age). Adolescent mothers had worse socioeconomic and reproductive conditions and perinatal outcomes when compared to other age groups. Having no prenatal care and smoking during pregnancy were the risk factors associated with low birth weight. Adolescent pregnancy, when linked to marital status "without partner", was associated with an increased proportion of low birth weight babies. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescence was a risk factor for LBW only for mothers without partners. Smoking during pregnancy and lack of prenatal care were considered to be independent risk factors for LBW.

Climatology of the Iberia coastal low-level wind jet: weather research forecasting model high-resolution results

Coastal low-level jets (CLLJ) are a low-tropospheric wind feature driven by the pressure gradient produced by a sharp contrast between high temperatures over land and lower temperatures over the sea. This contrast between the cold ocean and the warm land in the summer is intensified by the impact of the coastal parallel winds on the ocean generating upwelling currents, sharpening the temperature gradient close to the coast and giving rise to strong baroclinic structures at the coast. During summertime, the Iberian Peninsula is often under the effect of the Azores High and of a thermal low pressure system inland, leading to a seasonal wind, in the west coast, called the Nortada (northerly wind). This study presents a regional climatology of the CLLJ off the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula, based on a 9km resolution downscaling dataset, produced using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model, forced by 19 years of ERA-Interim reanalysis (1989-2007). The simulation results show that the jet hourly frequency of occurrence in the summer is above 30% and decreases to about 10% during spring and autumn. The monthly frequencies of occurrence can reach higher values, around 40% in summer months, and reveal large inter-annual variability in all three seasons. In the summer, at a daily base, the CLLJ is present in almost 70% of the days. The CLLJ wind direction is mostly from north-northeasterly and occurs more persistently in three areas where the interaction of the jet flow with local capes and headlands is more pronounced. The coastal jets in this area occur at heights between 300 and 400 m, and its speed has a mean around 15 m/s, reaching maximum speeds of 25 m/s.

Impact of long-stay beds on the performance of a tertiary hospital in emergencies

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of implementing long-stay beds for patients of low complexity and high dependency in small hospitals on the performance of an emergency referral tertiary hospital. METHODS For this longitudinal study, we identified hospitals in three municipalities of a regional department of health covered by tertiary care that supplied 10 long-stay beds each. Patients were transferred to hospitals in those municipalities based on a specific protocol. The outcome of transferred patients was obtained by daily monitoring. Confounding factors were adjusted by Cox logistic and semiparametric regression. RESULTS Between September 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014, 97 patients were transferred, 72.1% male, with a mean age of 60.5 years (SD = 1.9), for which 108 transfers were performed. Of these patients, 41.7% died, 33.3% were discharged, 15.7% returned to tertiary care, and only 9.3% tertiary remained hospitalized until the end of the analysis period. We estimated the Charlson comorbidity index – 0 (n = 28 [25.9%]), 1 (n = 31 [56.5%]) and ≥ 2 (n = 19 [17.5%]) – the only variable that increased the chance of death or return to the tertiary hospital (Odds Ratio = 2.4; 95%CI 1.3;4.4). The length of stay in long-stay beds was 4,253 patient days, which would represent 607 patients at the tertiary hospital, considering the average hospital stay of seven days. The tertiary hospital increased the number of patients treated in 50.0% for Intensive Care, 66.0% for Neurology and 9.3% in total. Patients stayed in long-stay beds mainly in the first 30 (50.0%) and 60 (75.0%) days. CONCLUSIONS Implementing long-stay beds increased the number of patients treated in tertiary care, both in general and in system bottleneck areas such as Neurology and Intensive Care. The Charlson index of comorbidity is associated with the chance of patient death or return to tertiary care, even when adjusted for possible confounding factors.

The impact of Sinogram-Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction on patient dose and image quality compared to filtered back projection: a narrative review

Objective: Summarize all relevant findings in published literature regarding the potential dose reduction related to image quality using Sinogram-Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction (SAFIRE) compared to Filtered Back Projection (FBP). Background: Computed Tomography (CT) is one of the most used radiographic modalities in clinical practice providing high spatial and contrast resolution. However it also delivers a relatively high radiation dose to the patient. Reconstructing raw-data using Iterative Reconstruction (IR) algorithms has the potential to iteratively reduce image noise while maintaining or improving image quality of low dose standard FBP reconstructions. Nevertheless, long reconstruction times made IR unpractical for clinical use until recently. Siemens Medical developed a new IR algorithm called SAFIRE, which uses up to 5 different strength levels, and poses an alternative to the conventional IR with a significant reconstruction time reduction. Methods: MEDLINE, ScienceDirect and CINAHL databases were used for gathering literature. Eleven articles were included in this review (from 2012 to July 2014). Discussion: This narrative review summarizes the results of eleven articles (using studies on both patients and phantoms) and describes SAFIRE strengths for noise reduction in low dose acquisitions while providing acceptable image quality. Conclusion: Even though the results differ slightly, the literature gathered for this review suggests that the dose in current CT protocols can be reduced at least 50% while maintaining or improving image quality. There is however a lack of literature concerning paediatric population (with increased radiation sensitivity). Further studies should also assess the impact of SAFIRE on diagnostic accuracy.

Land use/ land cover change and its impact on soil erosion process in Begnas Tal Rupa Tal watershed using geospatial tools, Kaski district, Nepal

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

Low-cost vibration sensors: tendencies and applications in condition monitoring of machines and structures

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Low frequency of TERT promoter mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs)

Somatic mutations in the promoter region of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene, mainly at positions c.-124 and c.-146 bp, are frequent in several human cancers; yet its presence in gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) has not been reported to date. Herein, we searched for the presence and clinicopathological association of TERT promoter mutations in genomic DNA from 130 bona fide GISTs. We found TERT promoter mutations in 3.8% (5/130) of GISTs. The c.-124C>T mutation was the most common event, present in 2.3% (3/130), and the c.-146C>T mutation in 1.5% (2/130) of GISTs. No significant association was observed between TERT promoter mutation and patient's clinicopathological features. The present study establishes the low frequency (4%) of TERT promoter mutations in GISTs. Further studies are required to confirm our findings and to elucidate the hypothetical biological and clinical impact of TERT promoter mutation in GIST pathogenesis.

Reliable and Fast Hand-Offs in Low-Power Wireless Networks

Hand-off (or hand-over), the process where mobile nodes select the best access point available to transfer data, has been well studied in wireless networks. The performance of a hand-off process depends on the specific characteristics of the wireless links. In the case of low-power wireless networks, hand-off decisions must be carefully taken by considering the unique properties of inexpensive low-power radios. This paper addresses the design, implementation and evaluation of smart-HOP, a hand-off mechanism tailored for low-power wireless networks. This work has three main contributions. First, it formulates the hard hand-off process for low-power networks (such as typical wireless sensor networks - WSNs) with a probabilistic model, to investigate the impact of the most relevant channel parameters through an analytical approach. Second, it confirms the probabilistic model through simulation and further elaborates on the impact of several hand-off parameters. Third, it fine-tunes the most relevant hand-off parameters via an extended set of experiments, in a realistic experimental scenario. The evaluation shows that smart-HOP performs well in the transitional region while achieving more than 98 percent relative delivery ratio and hand-off delays in the order of a few tens of a milliseconds.

The malarial impact on the nutritional status of Amazonian adult subjects

The anthropometric (body weight, height, upper arm circumference, triceps and subescapular skinfolds; Quetelet index and arm muscle circunference) and blood biochemistry (proteins and lipids) parameters were evaluated in 93 males and 27 females, 17-72 years old voluntaries living in the malarial endemic area of Humaita city (southwest Amazon). According to their malarial history they were assembled in four different groups: G1-controls without malarial history (n:30); G2 - controls with malarial history but without actual manifestation of the disease (n:40); G3 - patients with Plasmodium vivax (n:19) and G4 - patients with Plasmodium falciparum (n:31). The malarial status was stablished by clinical and laboratory findings. The overall data of anthropometry and blood biochemistry discriminated the groups differently. The anthropometric data were low sensitive and contrasted only the two extremes (G1>G4) whereas the biochemistry differentiated two big groups, the healthy (G1+G2) and the patients (G3+G4). The nutritional status of the P. falciparum patients was highly depressed for most of the studied indices but none was sensitive enough to differentiate this group from the P. vivax group (G3). On the other hand the two healthy groups could be differentiated through the levels of ceruloplasmin (G1G2). Thus it seems that the malaria-malnourishment state exists and the results could be framed either as a consequence of nutrient sink and/or the infection stress both motivated by the parasite.

European Union emissions trading scheme impact on the Spanish electricity price during phase II and phase III implementation

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is a cornerstone of the European Union's policy to combat climate change and its key tool for reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. The purpose of the present work is to evaluate the influence of CO2 opportunity cost on the Spanish wholesale electricity price. Our sample includes all Phase II of the EU ETS and the first year of Phase III implementation, from January 2008 to December 2013. A vector error correction model (VECM) is applied to estimate not only long-run equilibrium relations, but also short-run interactions between the electricity price and the fuel (natural gas and coal) and carbon prices. The four commodities prices are modeled as joint endogenous variables with air temperature and renewable energy as exogenous variables. We found a long-run relationship (cointegration) between electricity price, carbon price, and fuel prices. By estimating the dynamic pass-through of carbon price into electricity price for different periods of our sample, it is possible to observe the weakening of the link between carbon and electricity prices as a result from the collapse on CO2 prices, therefore compromising the efficacy of the system to reach proposed environmental goals. This conclusion is in line with the need to shape new policies within the framework of the EU ETS that prevent excessive low prices for carbon over extended periods of time.