HIV-1 superinfection with a triple-class drug-resistant strain in a patient successfully controlled with antiretroviral treatment.

We report a case of HIV-1 superinfection (HSI) with a clade B, triple-class resistant virus in a patient successfully controlling viremia with continuous combination antiretroviral therapy started 8 years earlier during primary HIV infection. The course of HIV infection prior to HSI was monitored in both the source partner and recipient (8 and 11 years, respectively) and 4 years following HSI. This case report demonstrates re-infection with HIV-1 despite effective combination antiretroviral therapy.

Class Test Generator

A combination of perl scripts and LaTeX files, this generates multiple multiple choice class tests from a single set of questions. You input a list of questions and answers into a text file. The script then produces any number of class tests that can be used, together with master answer sheets, by scrambling the order of the questions and the answers. Includes a detailed README file, but best just to try it and see.

Modelling, control and supervision for a class of hybrid systems

The aim of this thesis is to narrow the gap between two different control techniques: the continuous control and the discrete event control techniques DES. This gap can be reduced by the study of Hybrid systems, and by interpreting as Hybrid systems the majority of large-scale systems. In particular, when looking deeply into a process, it is often possible to identify interaction between discrete and continuous signals. Hybrid systems are systems that have both continuous, and discrete signals. Continuous signals are generally supposed continuous and differentiable in time, since discrete signals are neither continuous nor differentiable in time due to their abrupt changes in time. Continuous signals often represent the measure of natural physical magnitudes such as temperature, pressure etc. The discrete signals are normally artificial signals, operated by human artefacts as current, voltage, light etc. Typical processes modelled as Hybrid systems are production systems, chemical process, or continuos production when time and continuous measures interacts with the transport, and stock inventory system. Complex systems as manufacturing lines are hybrid in a global sense. They can be decomposed into several subsystems, and their links. Another motivation for the study of Hybrid systems is the tools developed by other research domains. These tools benefit from the use of temporal logic for the analysis of several properties of Hybrid systems model, and use it to design systems and controllers, which satisfies physical or imposed restrictions. This thesis is focused in particular types of systems with discrete and continuous signals in interaction. That can be modelled hard non-linealities, such as hysteresis, jumps in the state, limit cycles, etc. and their possible non-deterministic future behaviour expressed by an interpretable model description. The Hybrid systems treated in this work are systems with several discrete states, always less than thirty states (it can arrive to NP hard problem), and continuous dynamics evolving with expression: with Ki ¡ Rn constant vectors or matrices for X components vector. In several states the continuous evolution can be several of them Ki = 0. In this formulation, the mathematics can express Time invariant linear system. By the use of this expression for a local part, the combination of several local linear models is possible to represent non-linear systems. And with the interaction with discrete events of the system the model can compose non-linear Hybrid systems. Especially multistage processes with high continuous dynamics are well represented by the proposed methodology. Sate vectors with more than two components, as third order models or higher is well approximated by the proposed approximation. Flexible belt transmission, chemical reactions with initial start-up and mobile robots with important friction are several physical systems, which profits from the benefits of proposed methodology (accuracy). The motivation of this thesis is to obtain a solution that can control and drive the Hybrid systems from the origin or starting point to the goal. How to obtain this solution, and which is the best solution in terms of one cost function subject to the physical restrictions and control actions is analysed. Hybrid systems that have several possible states, different ways to drive the system to the goal and different continuous control signals are problems that motivate this research. The requirements of the system on which we work is: a model that can represent the behaviour of the non-linear systems, and that possibilities the prediction of possible future behaviour for the model, in order to apply an supervisor which decides the optimal and secure action to drive the system toward the goal. Specific problems can be determined by the use of this kind of hybrid models are: - The unity of order. - Control the system along a reachable path. - Control the system in a safe path. - Optimise the cost function. - Modularity of control The proposed model solves the specified problems in the switching models problem, the initial condition calculus and the unity of the order models. Continuous and discrete phenomena are represented in Linear hybrid models, defined with defined eighth-tuple parameters to model different types of hybrid phenomena. Applying a transformation over the state vector : for LTI system we obtain from a two-dimensional SS a single parameter, alpha, which still maintains the dynamical information. Combining this parameter with the system output, a complete description of the system is obtained in a form of a graph in polar representation. Using Tagaki-Sugeno type III is a fuzzy model which include linear time invariant LTI models for each local model, the fuzzyfication of different LTI local model gives as a result a non-linear time invariant model. In our case the output and the alpha measure govern the membership function. Hybrid systems control is a huge task, the processes need to be guided from the Starting point to the desired End point, passing a through of different specific states and points in the trajectory. The system can be structured in different levels of abstraction and the control in three layers for the Hybrid systems from planning the process to produce the actions, these are the planning, the process and control layer. In this case the algorithms will be applied to robotics ¡V a domain where improvements are well accepted ¡V it is expected to find a simple repetitive processes for which the extra effort in complexity can be compensated by some cost reductions. It may be also interesting to implement some control optimisation to processes such as fuel injection, DC-DC converters etc. In order to apply the RW theory of discrete event systems on a Hybrid system, we must abstract the continuous signals and to project the events generated for these signals, to obtain new sets of observable and controllable events. Ramadge & Wonham¡¦s theory along with the TCT software give a Controllable Sublanguage of the legal language generated for a Discrete Event System (DES). Continuous abstraction transforms predicates over continuous variables into controllable or uncontrollable events, and modifies the set of uncontrollable, controllable observable and unobservable events. Continuous signals produce into the system virtual events, when this crosses the bound limits. If this event is deterministic, they can be projected. It is necessary to determine the controllability of this event, in order to assign this to the corresponding set, , controllable, uncontrollable, observable and unobservable set of events. Find optimal trajectories in order to minimise some cost function is the goal of the modelling procedure. Mathematical model for the system allows the user to apply mathematical techniques over this expression. These possibilities are, to minimise a specific cost function, to obtain optimal controllers and to approximate a specific trajectory. The combination of the Dynamic Programming with Bellman Principle of optimality, give us the procedure to solve the minimum time trajectory for Hybrid systems. The problem is greater when there exists interaction between adjacent states. In Hybrid systems the problem is to determine the partial set points to be applied at the local models. Optimal controller can be implemented in each local model in order to assure the minimisation of the local costs. The solution of this problem needs to give us the trajectory to follow the system. Trajectory marked by a set of set points to force the system to passing over them. Several ways are possible to drive the system from the Starting point Xi to the End point Xf. Different ways are interesting in: dynamic sense, minimum states, approximation at set points, etc. These ways need to be safe and viable and RchW. And only one of them must to be applied, normally the best, which minimises the proposed cost function. A Reachable Way, this means the controllable way and safe, will be evaluated in order to obtain which one minimises the cost function. Contribution of this work is a complete framework to work with the majority Hybrid systems, the procedures to model, control and supervise are defined and explained and its use is demonstrated. Also explained is the procedure to model the systems to be analysed for automatic verification. Great improvements were obtained by using this methodology in comparison to using other piecewise linear approximations. It is demonstrated in particular cases this methodology can provide best approximation. The most important contribution of this work, is the Alpha approximation for non-linear systems with high dynamics While this kind of process is not typical, but in this case the Alpha approximation is the best linear approximation to use, and give a compact representation.

Self-assembled healable materials through a combination of pi-pi stacking and hydrogen bonding

The discovery of polymers with stimuli responsive physical properties is a rapidly expanding area of research. At the forefront of the field are self-healing polymers, which, when fractured can regain the mechanical properties of the material either autonomically, or in response to a stimulus. It has long been known that it is possible to promote healing in conventional thermoplastics by heating the fracture zone above the Tg of the polymer under pressure. This process requires reptation and subsequent re-entanglement of macromolecules across the fracture void, which serves to bridge, and ‘heal’ the crack. The timescale for this mechanism is highly dependent on the molecular weight of the polymer being studied. This process is in contrast to that required to affect healing in supramolecular polymers such as the plasticised, hydrogen bonded elastomer reported by Leibler et al. The disparity in bond energies between the non-covalent and covalent bonds within supramolecular polymers results in fractures propagating through scission of the comparatively weak supramolecular interactions, rather than through breaking the stronger, covalent bonds. Thus, during the healing process the macromolecules surrounding the fracture site only need sufficient energy to re-engage their supramolecular interactions in order to regenerate the strength of the pristine material. Herein we describe the design, synthesis and optimization of a new class of supramolecular polymer blends that harness the reversible nature of pi-pi stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions to produce self-supporting films with facile healable characteristics.

On combination of SMOTE and particle swarm optimization based radial basis function classifier for imbalanced problems

The combination of the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) and the radial basis function (RBF) classifier is proposed to deal with classification for imbalanced two-class data. In order to enhance the significance of the small and specific region belonging to the positive class in the decision region, the SMOTE is applied to generate synthetic instances for the positive class to balance the training data set. Based on the over-sampled training data, the RBF classifier is constructed by applying the orthogonal forward selection procedure, in which the classifier structure and the parameters of RBF kernels are determined using a particle swarm optimization algorithm based on the criterion of minimizing the leave-one-out misclassification rate. The experimental results on both simulated and real imbalanced data sets are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.

A review on the combination of binary classifiers in multiclass problems

Several real problems involve the classification of data into categories or classes. Given a data set containing data whose classes are known, Machine Learning algorithms can be employed for the induction of a classifier able to predict the class of new data from the same domain, performing the desired discrimination. Some learning techniques are originally conceived for the solution of problems with only two classes, also named binary classification problems. However, many problems require the discrimination of examples into more than two categories or classes. This paper presents a survey on the main strategies for the generalization of binary classifiers to problems with more than two classes, known as multiclass classification problems. The focus is on strategies that decompose the original multiclass problem into multiple binary subtasks, whose outputs are combined to obtain the final prediction.

Novel insights for dihydroorotate dehydrogenase class 1A inhibitors discovery

The enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) has been suggested as a promising target for the design of trypanocidal agents. We report here the discovery of novel inhibitors of Trypanosoma cruzi DHODH identified by a combination of virtual screening and ITC methods. Monitoring of the enzymatic reaction in the presence of selected ligands together with structural information obtained from X-ray crystallography analysis have allowed the identification and validation of a novel site of interaction (S2 site). This has provided important structural insights for the rational design of T cruzi and Leishmania major DHODH inhibitors. The most potent compound (1) in the investigated series inhibits TcDHODH enzyme with K(i)(app) value of 19.28 mu M and possesses a ligand efficiency of 0.54 kcal mol(-1) per non-H atom. The compounds described in this work are promising hits for further development. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Efficacy of geraniol but not of β-ionone or their combination for the chemoprevention of rat colon carcinogenesis

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

Treatment effects produced by the Bionator appliance. Comparison with an untreated Class II sample

The purpose of this retrospective investigation was to evaluate the dentoalveolar and skeletal cephalometric changes of the Bionator appliance on individuals with a Class II division 1 malocclusion. Lateral cephalograms of 44 patients were divided into two equal groups. The control group comprised 22 untreated Class II children (11 males, 11 females), with an initial mean age of 8 years 7 months who were followed without treatment for a period of 13 months. The Bionator group (111 males, 11 females) had an initial mean age of 10 years 8 months, and were treated for a mean period of 16 months. Lateral cephalometric headfilms were obtained of each patient and control at the beginning and end of treatment.The results showed that there were no changes in forward growth of the maxilla in the experimental group compared with the control group. However, the Bionator treatment produced a statistically significant increase in mandibular protrusion, and in total mandibular and body lengths. There were no statistically significant differences in craniofacial growth direction between the Bionator group and the control group, although the treated patients demonstrated a greater increase in posterior face height. The Bionator appliance produced labial tipping of the lower incisors and lingual inclination of the upper incisors, as well as a significant increase (P < 0.01) in mandibular posterior dentoalveolar height. The major effects of the Bionator appliance were dentoalveolar, with a smaller significant skeletal effect. The results indicate that the correction of a Class II division 1 malocclusion with the Bionator appliance is achieved not only by a combination of mandibular skeletal effects, but also by significant dentoalveolar changes.

Asset accumulation by the middle class and the poor in Latin America: political economy and governance dimensions

Includes bibliography

Impact of Quantity of Resin, C-factor, and Geometry on Resin Composite Polymerization Shrinkage Stress in Class V Restorations

Objective: This study evaluated the effect of quantity of resin composite, C-factor, and geometry in Class V restorations on shrinkage stress after bulk fill insertion of resin using two-dimensional finite element analysis.Methods: An image of a buccolingual longitudinal plane in the middle of an upper first premolar and supporting tissues was used for modeling 10 groups: cylindrical cavity, erosion, and abfraction lesions with the same C-factor (1.57), a second cylindrical cavity and abfraction lesion with the same quantity of resin (QR) as the erosion lesion, and then all repeated with a bevel on the occlusal cavosurface angle. The 10 groups were imported into Ansys 13.0 for two-dimensional finite element analysis. The mesh was built with 30,000 triangle and square elements of 0.1 mm in length for all the models. All materials were considered isotropic, homogeneous, elastic, and linear, and the resin composite shrinkage was simulated by thermal analogy. The maximum principal (MPS) and von Mises stresses (VMS) were analyzed for comparing the behavior of the groups.Results: Different values of angles for the cavosurface margin in enamel and dentin were obtained for all groups and the higher the angle, the lower the stress concentration. When the groups with the same C-factor and QR were compared, the erosion shape cavity showed the highest MPS and VMS values, and abfraction shape, the lowest. A cavosurface bevel decreased the stress values on the occlusal margin. The geometry factor overcame the effects of C-factor and QR in some situations.Conclusion: Within the limitations of the current methodology, it is possible to conclude that the combination of all variables studied influences the stress, but the geometry is the most important factor to be considered by the operator.

Effect of platele-rich plasma on healing of class III furcation defects treated with autogenous bone grafting and guided tissue regeneration: a histomorphometric sutdy in dogs

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) when used in combination with autogenous bone graft and bioabsorbable membrane (Resolut® ) in the treatment of Class  III furcation defects in dogs. Material and method: Class III furcation defects (5 mm in height and in depth) were surgically created in the mandibular third premolars of five mongrel dogs. After nine weeks, the lesions were treated with scaling and root planning and each defect received one of the following treatments: autogenous bone graft + membrane (group C) or PRP + autogenous bone graft + membrane (group T). After a healing period of 90 days, the animals were sacrificed. Routine histological processing and staining with hematoxilyn and eosin and Masson trichrome were performed and a histomorphometric analysis determined the effect of the treatments on periodontal tissue regereneration. Data were analyzed by Hotelling’s T-squared (p < 0.05). Result: No statistically significant difference between C and T groups was observed by the histomorphometric analysis of the furcation area. Both treatment groups demonstrated similar regenerative results with the furcation defects partially filled and periodontal regeneration limited to the experimental notches of the lesions. (p > 0.05). Conclusion: According to the present results, PRP does not enhance the periodontal regeneration in class III furcation defects treated with autogenous bone graft and bioabsorbable membrane.

Effect of platelet-rich plasma on healing of class III furcation defects treated with autogenous bone grafting and guided tissue regeneration: a histomorphometric study in dogs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) when used in combination with autogenous bone graft and bioabsorbable membrane (Resolut® ) in the treatment of Class  III furcation defects in dogs. Material and method: Class III furcation defects (5 mm in height and in depth) were surgically created in the mandibular third premolars of five mongrel dogs. After nine weeks, the lesions were treated with scaling and root planning and each defect received one of the following treatments: autogenous bone graft + membrane (group C) or PRP + autogenous bone graft + membrane (group T). After a healing period of 90 days, the animals were sacrificed. Routine histological processing and staining with hematoxilyn and eosin and Masson trichrome were performed and a histomorphometric analysis determined the effect of the treatments on periodontal tissue regereneration. Data were analyzed by Hotelling’s T-squared (p < 0.05). Result: No statistically significant difference between C and T groups was observed by the histomorphometric analysis of the furcation area. Both treatment groups demonstrated similar regenerative results with the furcation defects partially filled and periodontal regeneration limited to the experimental notches of the lesions. (p > 0.05). Conclusion: According to the present results, PRP does not enhance the periodontal regeneration in class III furcation defects treated with autogenous bone graft and bioabsorbable membrane.

Multidisciplinary treatment ofadult patients with Class III malocclusion

This article describes the multidisciplinary treatment of an adult patient presenting with Angle Class III malocclusion, alteration of the mandibular position, vertical alveolar bone loss and absence of teeth in the lower posterior region. With advancing age the existence of occlusal interference due to loss of teeth or tooth structure is very common, resulting in periodontal problems due to occlusal trauma. The options for treatment of Class III malocclusion in adolescent and adult patients include compensatory orthodontic treatment in mild to moderate cases and orthognathic surgery for moderate to severe cases. The combination of various dental specialties enabled improvement in the social circumstances of the patient. This can be observed objectively by the final dental relationship and by the skeletal and tegumentary cephalometric comparison between the situation at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. The compensatory treatment performed permitted the successful correction of a Class III malocclusion in the clinical case presented.

Dentoskeletal changes induced by the Jasper jumper and the activator-headgear combination appliances followed by fixed orthodontic treatment

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the dentoskeletal changes of patients with Class II Division 1 malocclusion treated with either the Jasper jumper appliance or the activator-headgear combination, both associated with fixed appliances. Methods: The sample comprised 72 subjects with Class II Division 1 malocclusion divided into 3 groups: group 1 included 25 subjects treated with fixed appliances and the force modules of the Jasper jumper at an initial mean age of 12.72 years, group 2 included 25 subjects treated with the activator-headgear combination followed by fixed appliances at an initial mean age of 11.07 years, and group 3 included 22 untreated subjects at an initial mean age of 12.67 years. Initial cephalometric characteristics and dentoskeletal changes were compared with analysis of variance. Results: Both experimental groups had similar dentoskeletal changes: restrictive effect on the maxilla, clockwise mandibular rotation and a slight increase in anterior face height, retrusion of the maxillary incisors, distalization of the maxillary molars, protrusion of the mandibular incisors, extrusion of the mandibular molars, and significant improvements of the maxillomandibular relationship, overjet, overbite, and the molar relationship. Conclusions: The effects of the Jasper jumper and the activator-headgear combination followed by fixed orthodontic appliances were similar in Class II malocclusion treatment.