Multiple Haemangiomas, Diaphragmatic Eventration and Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome: An Unusual Association

A 6-month-old girl with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, multiple haemangiomas (axillary, laryngeal, pulmonary and hepatic) and diaphragmatic eventration was reported. All tumours responded to treatment with propranolol. The surgical correction of diaphragmatic eventration was crucial to a better outcome.

Acute Upper Limb Ischemia, a Rare Presentation of Giant Cell Arteritis

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic large vessel vasculitis, with extracranial arterial involvement described in 10-15% of cases, usually affecting the aorta and its branches. Patients with GCA are more likely to develop aortic aneurysms, but these are rarely present at the time of the diagnosis. We report the case of an 80-year-old Caucasian woman, who reported proximal muscle pain in the arms with morning stiffness of the shoulders for eight months. In the previous two months, she had developed worsening bilateral arm claudication, severe pain, cold extremities and digital necrosis. She had no palpable radial pulses and no measurable blood pressure. The patient had normochromic anemia, erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 120 mm/h, and a negative infectious and autoimmune workup. Computed tomography angiography revealed concentric wall thickening of the aorta extending to the aortic arch branches, particularly the subclavian and axillary arteries, which were severely stenotic, with areas of bilateral occlusion and an aneurysm of the ascending aorta (47 mm). Despite corticosteroid therapy there was progression to acute critical ischemia. She accordingly underwent surgical revascularization using a bilateral carotid-humeral bypass. After surgery, corticosteroid therapy was maintained and at six-month follow-up she was clinically stable with reduced inflammatory markers. GCA, usually a chronic benign vasculitis, presented exceptionally in this case as acute critical upper limb ischemia, resulting from a massive inflammatory process of the subclavian and axillary arteries, treated with salvage surgical revascularization.

Sensitivity correction of images obtained with the prototype Clear-PEM in pre-clinical environment

Dissertation presented at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade Nova de Lisboa to obtain a Master Degree in Biomedical Engineering

Microwave imaging of the axilla to aid breast cancer diagnosis

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women all over the world. An important issue that is not commonly addressed in breast cancer imaging literature is the importance of imaging the underarm region—where up to 80% of breast cancer cells can metastasise to. The first axillary lymph nodes to receive drainage from the primary tumour in the breast are called Sentinel Node. If cancer cells are found in the Sentinel Node, there is an increased risk of metastatic breast cancer which makes this evaluation crucial to decide what follow-up exams and therapy to follow. However, non-invasive detection of cancer cells in the lymph nodes is often inconclusive, leading to the surgical removal of too many nodes which causes adverse side-effects for patients. Microwave Imaging is one of the most promising non-invasive imaging modalities for breast cancer early screening and monitoring. This novel study tests the feasibility of imaging the axilla region by means of the simulation of an Ultra-Wideband Microwave Imaging system. Simulations of such system are completed in several 2D underarm models that mimic the axilla. Initial imaging results are obtained by means of processing the simulated backscattered signals by eliminating artefacts caused by the skin and beamforming the processed signals in order to time-align all the signals recorded at each antenna. In this dissertation several image formation algorithms are implemented and compared by visual inspection of the resulting images and through a range of performance metrics, such as Signal-to-Clutter Ratio and FullWidth Half Maximum calculations. The results in this study showed that Microwave Imaging is a promising technique that might allow to identify the presence and location of metastasised cancer cells in axillary lymph nodes, enabling the non-invasive evaluation of breast cancer staging.

Mediastinitis and pericardial effusion in a patient with AIDS and disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection: a case report

We report the case of a 36-year-old man who had acquired immune deficiency syndrome and developed suppurative mediastinitis extending over the left lung and anterior thoracic wall around the sternum, pericardial effusions, splenomegaly, and mesenteric and periaortic lymphadenomegaly due to Mycobacterium avium (genotype I). The organism was isolated from an axillary lymph node and the bone marrow. Mediastinitis associated with disseminated M. avium complex infection is uncommon and, to the best of our knowledge, this manifestation has not reported before.

Cross-scale determinants of palm species distribution

We investigate palm species distribution, richness and abundance along the Mokoti, a seasonally-dry river of southeastern Amazon and compare it to the patterns observed at a large scale, comprising the entire Brazilian territory. A total of 694 palms belonging to 10 species were sampled at the Mokoti River basin. Although the species showed diverse distribution patterns, we found that local palm abundance, richness and tree basal area were significantly higher from the hills to the bottomlands of the study region, revealing a positive association of these measures with moisture. The analyses at the larger spatial scale also showed a strong influence of vapor pressure (a measure of moisture content of the air, in turn modulated by temperature) and seasonality in temperature: the richest regions were those where temperature and humidity were simultaneously high, and which also presented a lower degree of seasonality in temperature. These results indicate that the distribution of palms seems to be strongly associated with climatic variables, supporting the idea that, by 'putting all the eggs in one basket' (a consequence of survival depending on the preservation of a single irreplaceable bud), palms have become vulnerable to extreme environmental conditions. Hence, their distribution is concentrated in those tropical and sub-tropical regions with constant conditions of (mild to high) temperature and moisture all year round.

Microenxertia em castanheiro

Dissertação de mestrado em Biologia Molecular, Biotecnologia e Bioempreendedorismo em Plantas

Stage at presentation of breast cancer in Luanda, Angola - a retrospective study

Background: It is expected that, by 2020, 15 million new cases of cancer will occur every year in the world, one million of them in Africa. Knowledge of cancer trends in African countries is far from adequate, and improvements in cancer prevention efforts are urgently needed. The aim of this study was to characterize breast cancer clinically and pathologically at presentation in Luanda, Angola; we additionally provide quality information that will be useful for breast cancer care planning in the country. Methods: Data on breast cancer cases were retrieved from the Angolan Institute of Cancer Control, from 2006 to 2014. For women diagnosed in 2009 (5-years of follow-up), demographic, clinical and pathological information, at presentation, was collected, namely age at diagnosis, parity, methods used for pathological diagnoses, tumor pathological characteristics, stage of disease and treatment. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: The median age of women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 was 47 years old (range 25–89). The most frequent clinical presentation was breast swelling with axillary lymph nodes metastasis (44.9 %), followed by a mass larger than 5 cm (14.2 %) and lump (12.9 %). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the main histologic type (81.8 %). Only 10.1 % of cancer cases had a well differentiated histological grade. Cancers were diagnosed mostly at advanced stages (66.7 % in stage III and 11.1 % in stage IV). Discussion: In this study, breast cancer was diagnosed at a very advanced stage. Although it reports data from a single cancer center in Luanda, Angola it reinforces the need for early diagnosis and increasing awareness. According to the main challenges related to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment herein presented, we propose a realistic framework that would allow for the implementation of a breast cancer care program, built under a strong network based on cooperation, teaching, audit, good practices and the organization of health services. Conclusion: Angola needs urgently a program for early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Estudos sôbre o quiabeiro II: efeitos da autofecundação e do cruzamento

The present work deals with the study of the effects of selfing and crossing in pures lines of okra inbred for five generations and the methods of breeding in this plant. This work is party of a large program of this Dept. to study heterosis in plants naturally self pollinated. The technic of selfing consists of tying with a string the floral bud before anthesis. To make controlled crosses, it is necessary to emasculate the flowers removing the anthers with small forceps, and to cover the flowers with a bag and wait for 1 or 2 days until the blooming. Also, the male parents are covered with paper bags prior to flowering. Finally, the pollen is brushed lightly over the stigma of the emasculated flowers and the females unit rebagged. The authors have tried without sucess the technic of soda fountain straw used for cotton. The treatments were: I) Fl of the cross pure-line x foreign variety (not improved by breeding). II) Fl of the cross pure-line x parental variety and III) pure-line 5 generations inbred. In order to compare the production of these three treatments, a randomized blocks with 4 replications was designed; since we had 6 families in each treatment, the total number was: 4 replications x 3 treatments x 6 families: = 72. Each familiy was planted in lines of 10 plants. Owing to the design devised, the present experiment corresponds to a split-plot. The analysis of variance of the number and the weight of the pods is given in tables 2 and 4, and shows the following: 1) The production expressed in both numbers and weights of the cross, - pure lines x foreign variety - was statistically smaller than the others treatments, i, e., the cross of pure-lines x parental variety and the pure-lines; 2) The production of the treatments pure-lines x parental variety and selfed purelines was the same. It was proved that the selfing do not produce harmful effects in okra, it was benefical, since after 5 inbred generations the production was the same when compared with Fl of the parental variety. Also, the methods of pure-lines are indicated to improve varieties of okra.

Planificación de aplicaciones best-effort y soft real-time en NOWs

La aparición de nuevos tipos de aplicaciones, como vídeo bajo demanda, realidad virtual y videoconferencias entre otras, caracterizadas por la necesidad de cumplir sus deadlines. Este tipo de aplicaciones, han sido denominadas en la literatura aplicaciones soft-real time (SRT) periódicas. Este trabajo se centra en el problema de la planificación temporal de este nuevo tipo de aplicaciones en clusters no dedicados.

Entorno de desarrollo para clusters

El presente trabajo expone los entornos de desarrollo de aplicaciones paralelas en sistemas distribuidos. Se ha dedicado especial atención a los entornos gráficos, como plataforma de acceso al cluster. Dada la cantidad de alternativas a seleccionar en este tipo de entornos, como puede ser la parametrización de las aplicaciones, especificación de la arquitectura a utilizar de los nodos, caracterización de la carga, políticas de planificación, etc, hace que este trabajo pueda servir de punto inicial de partida a usuarios que deseen iniciarse en este tipo de entornos.

Disseny del servidor de control d'un sistema de vídeo sota demanda

El treball realitzat dóna una visió global sobre els sistemes de vídeo sota demanda i la problemàtica associada al seu desenvolupament. Es mostra quines solucions s'han adoptat per abordar aquesta problemàtica a l'hora de dissenyar un sistema de VoD i, en particular, el treball se centra en l'anàlisi i desenvolupament del corresponent servidor de control.

Navegación, guiado y control de vehículos aeroespaciales

El objetivo del proyecto es diseñar una plataforma de ensayos para la simulación de vuelos de vehículos aeroespaciales. La plataforma permitirá diseñar y evaluar los algoritmos de navegación, guiado y control de los vehículos aeroespaciales modelados en la plataforma de simulación, focalizando el trabajo de los ingenieros en el modelado de vehículos y en el desarrollo de sistemas de control digital. La memoria recoge las fases de un proyecto de ingeniería del software, describiendo el plan de proyecto, el análisis del sistema, la especificación de requisitos y el diseño del mismo.

Manejo de históricos en clusters

CISNE es un sistema de cómputo en paralelo del Departamento de Arquitectura de Computadores y Sistemas Operativos (DACSO). Para poder implementar políticas de ordenacción de colas y selección de trabajos, este sistema necesita predecir el tiempo de ejecución de las aplicaciones. Con este trabajo se pretende proveer al sistema CISNE de un método para predecir el tiempo de ejecución basado en un histórico donde se almacenarán todos los datos sobre las ejecuciones.

Integració d'una wiki al Campus Virtual de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Aquest projecte presenta una sol·lució per tal d’incorporar una eina wiki al Campus Virtual de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Enfront de la metodologia docent clàssica, la wiki oferirà funcionalitats orientades al treball col·laboratiu i fomentarà la participació de l’alumne. L’objectiu final és tenir una eina completament integrada al Campus Virtual, que aprofiti l’aplicatiu existent i s’interrelacioni amb la resta de mòduls presents.