Biochemical and nutritional evaluation of patients with visceral leishmaniasis before and after treatment with leishmanicidal drugs

Introduction Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is caused by the intracellular protozoan Leishmania donovani complex. VL may be asymptomatic or progressive and is characterized by fever, anemia, weight loss and the enlargement of the spleen and liver. The nutritional status of the patients with VL is a major determinant of the progression, severity and mortality of the disease, as it affects the clinical progression of the disease. Changes in lipoproteins and plasma proteins may have major impacts in the host during infection. Thus, our goal was evaluate the serum total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides, glucose, albumin, globulin and total protein levels, as well as the body composition, of VL patients before and after treatment. Methods Nutritional evaluation was performed using the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to assess body composition. Biochemical data on the serum total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, glucose, albumin, globulin and total protein were collected from the medical charts of the patients. Results BIA indicated that both pre-treatment and post-treatment patients exhibited decreased phase angles compared to the controls, which is indicative of disease. Prior to treatment, the patients exhibited lower levels of total body water compared to the controls. Regarding the biochemical evaluation, patients with active VL exhibited lower levels of total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and albumin and higher triglyceride levels compared to patients after treatment and the controls. Treatment increased the levels of albumin and lipoproteins and decreased the triglyceride levels. Conclusions Our results suggest that patients with active VL present biochemical and nutritional changes that are reversed by treatment.

Basel III new capital requirements, impacts and bank behavior

For some years, researchers could not find a clear effect of capital adequacy on the risk profile of banks, as shareholders could increase the riskiness of the assets (qualitative effect), crowding-out the effect of reduced leverage (volume effect). Some shareholders might have the will to increase the riskiness of the assets, but they may lack the power to do so. Considering only ”powerful” shareholders, definitive conclusions were drawn but with constant ownership profile. In this paper I investigate whether there is a significant change in the type of shareholders in response to regulatory capital shocks and, if so, will the banking system be in the hands of more “desired” shareholders. I find that ownership profile responds to a regulatory shock, changing the risk appetite of the ruling power at the bank. I find more banks and the government in the ownership of undercapitalised banks and much less institutional shareholders and free float. I claim that these new shareholders may not the desired ones, given the objective of the regulatory change, as they are associated with a preference for more leverage. One possible explanation for this crowding-out effect is that regulators are trying to contain idiosyncratic risk (more linked to the riskiness of the assets) with a rule that contains systematic risk (capital adequacy). This has a distorting effect on ownership. Another insight can be drawn from the tests: supervisors should be aware of significant ownership movements that cause the crowding-out.

Capital requirements and loan market conditions insight into Portuguese Banking system (2004-2011)

Capital Requirements have been gaining importance in the current macroeconomic and financial environment and Portugal is no exception. Nonetheless, despite the several media articles on this subject, the associations with Loan Market Conditions, namely availability and pricing are still unstudied. Thus, this project adds to the existing literature a characterization of Portuguese four biggest banks on capital reporting and requirements fulfillment. It is concluded that banks under analysis need to increase capital and that there is an association between the variables under study: Share Capital is negatively correlated with Credit Volume, and it is positively correlated with Net Commercial Income.

Nutritional follow-up of critically ill infants receiving short term parenteral nutrition

Few studies have tried to characterize the efficacy of parenteral support of critically ill infants during short period of intensive care. We studied seventeen infants during five days of total parenteral hyperalimentation. Subsequently, according to the clinical conditions, the patients received nutritional support by parenteral, enteral route or both up to the 10th day. Evaluations were performed on the 1st, 5th, and 10th days. These included: clinical data (food intake and anthropometric measurements), haematological data (lymphocyte count), biochemical tests (albumin, transferrin, fibronectin, prealbumin, retinol-binding protein) and hormone assays (cortisol, insulin, glucagon). Anthropometric measurements revealed no significant difference between the first and second evaluations. Serum albumin and transferrin did not change significantly, but mean values of fibronectin (8.9 to 16 mg/dL), prealbumin (7.7 to 18 mg/dL), and retinol-binding protein (2.4 to 3.7 mg/dL) increased significantly (p < 0.05) from the 1st to the 10th day. The hormonal study showed no difference for insulin, glucagon, and cortisol when the three evaluations were compared. The mean value of the glucose/insulin ratio was of 25.7 in the 1st day and 15.5 in the 5th day, revealing a transitory supression of this hormone. Cortisol showed values above normal in the beginning of the study. We conclude that the anthropometric parameters were not useful due to the short time of the study; serum proteins, fibronectin, prealbumin, and retinol-binding protein were very sensitive indicators of nutritional status, and an elevated glucose/insulin ratio, associated with a slight tendency for increased cortisol levels suggest hypercatabolic state. The critically ill patient can benefit from an early metabolic support.

Basel III: The impact of new capital requirements on profitability of Portuguese Banks

This empirical study aims to explore the impact of increased capital ratio requirements, on the ROE of the Portuguese banking sector. The paper employs both a quantitative- and qualitative approach, with the qualitative approach as the main method of research. The method adopted to conduct the qualitative research was semi structured elite interviews with banking executives. Higher capital requirements decrease the ROE of banks in Portugal, but huge impairments charges, macroeconomic factors and increased costs of deposits are clearly the dominant reasons for the reduced levels of ROE the past years. Among the measures taken to increase capital ratios, reduction of RWAs and non-core assets have been the main focus, but the issuance of CoCos is regarded as the most expensive measure due to high interest payments. However, the CoCos will not have any effect on the ROE in the long term. It is difficult to draw any conclusions on the impact of more equity in the balance sheet on the ROE of Portuguese banks, as many banks currently don’t generate enough money to pay back on shareholders´ investments.

Nutritional plasticity and evolutionary divergence in the Drosophila ovary

The environment can modify developmental trajectories and generate a range of distinct phenotypes without altering an organism’s genome, a widespread phenomenon called developmental plasticity. The past decades have seen a resurgent interest in understanding how developmental plasticity contributes to evolutionary processes, as it can produce phenotypic variation among individuals and facilitate diversification among populations that inhabit distinct ecological niches. To better understand the importance of plastic responses for evolutionary change, we need to explore how the environment alters development to produce phenotypic variation and then compare this to how genetic variation influences these same developmental processes.(...)

Nutritional preferences of wood-feeding termites inhabiting floodplain forests of the Amazon River, Brazil

The alimentary preferences of five species of wood-feeding termites of the genus Nasutitermes that coexist in the inundated forests of the floodplains of the Amazon river várzea for species of fresh wood and for wood in different stages of decomposition was evaluated in laboratory tests. Wood of low density was generally preferred; the decay stages were preferred over fresh wood. The five termite species differ in the amplitude of their choices, indicating a strong differentiation in food choice among them. Differences in feeding preferences may be a niche-separating factor for these five Nasutitermes species of the floodplains.

Nutritional status and food intake at workplace as health indicators for industrial workers

This study aimed to verify the correlation among the nutritional composition of the food consumed in the work environment, the energy expenditure and the nutritional status of workers from different sectors (administration and production) in different industries. The anthropometric data, in addition to the energy expenditure and food intake at lunch were evaluated for 292 workers, all of them included in the Brazilian Worker Food Program (also called PAT). The food consumption was assessed from the direct observation of the meal, for five consecutive days. The obtained data were analyzed by Pearson correlation test and by a Principal Components Analysis. Prevalence of overweight was detected in the studied population, according to the Body Mass Index (BMI). A statistically significant difference was found in terms of the energy expenditure of physical activity and daily energy expenditure in relation to gender and the working sector. The obtained results indicate that there is significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) between the following variables: body weight and BMI (r = 0.84), weight and daily energy expenditure (DEE) (r = 0.52), BMI and DEE (r = 0.27), DEE and energy (r = 0.38), and energy and lipid intake (r = 0.50). These findings seems to indicate the importance of ensuring an adequate balance of nutrients at meals, due to the heterogeneity of workers, in particular in the case of those workers who perform tasks or functions requiring less energy expenditure.

Mitigating the impact of occupational noise exposure for elderly workers: Setting the functional requirements for an ANC system

Noise affects people in very different aspects and in almost every aspect of our daily life. The most prominent impact of noise exposure is hearing loss. However, it can also impair people at their work settings due to other effects rather than hearing loss. Older works tend to be more susceptible to noise exposure effects at work, firstly because most of them already have some ‘natural’ hearing loss, as a results of the ageing process, and secondly because they also tend to be more susceptible at an psychological level. The current study is an attempt to describe the potential problem and to make a survey to identify the available active noise cancelation systems, as well as to specific the main requirements of this type of systems to be applied in such contexts. Several aspects of characteristics of the ANC systems were identified and are presented in this study. From the obtained results it was possible to have a clearer idea about the potential of this technology, and to confirm that this type of solution can be extremely important as a component of an active ageing program, as the preservation of hearing will also impact on the social life of the exposed workers.

Nutritional status and specific leaf area of mahogany and tonka bean under two light environments

Studies on nutritional status and leaf traits were carried out in two tropical tree species Swietenia macrophylla King (mahogany) and Dipetryx odorata Aubl. Willd. (tonka bean) planted under contrasting light environments in Presidente Figueiredo-AM, Brazil. Leaves of S. macrophylla and D. odorata were collected in three year-old trees grown under full sunlight (about 2000 µmol m-2 s-1) and natural shade under a closed canopy of Balsa-wood plantation (Ochroma pyramidale Cav. Ex. Lam.Urb) about 260 µmol m-2 s-1. The parameters analysed were leaf area (LA), leaf dry mass (LDM), specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf nutrient contents. It was observed that, S. macrophylla leaves grown under full sunlight showed LA 35% lower than those grown under shade. In D. odorata leaves these differences in LA were not observed. In addition, it was observed that S. macrophylla shade leaves, for LDM, were 50% smaller than sun leaves, while in D. odorata, there differences were not observed. SLA in S. macrophylla presented that sun leaves were three times smaller than those grown under shade. In D. odorata, no differences were observed. Nutrient contents in S. macrophylla, regardless of their light environments, showed higher contents for P and Ca than those found in D. odorata. The N, K, Fe and Mn contents in S. macrophylla leaves decreased under shade. Finally, we suggest that the decreasing in leaf nutrient contents may have a negative influence on leaf growth. The results demonstrated that the tested hypothesis is true for leaf traits, which D. odorata, late-successional species, showed lower plasticity for leaf traits than Swietenia macrophylla, mid-successional species.

Refinement and variability techniques in model transformation of software requirements

Tese de Doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação

Technical requirements for the use of C&DW recycled aggregates in municipal and rural roads and trenches

The use of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) in the construction industry is an important contribution to attain sustainability in the sector. The roads are among the civil engineering works which can use larger quantities of C&DW recycled aggregates. In Portugal, the limit values for the properties of C&DW recycled aggregates that can be used in the roads of Portuguese Road Network are defined by two Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) technical specifications (TS), in accordance to Portuguese Decree-law no. 46/2008 of May 12th. Municipal and rural roads and trenches have specific characteristics that can enable the use of C&DW of lower quality than those required by existing LNEC TS, and even then ensuring an adequate performance. However, given the absence of specific regulation for those applications, the Portuguese Environment Agency requires compliance with the existing LNEC TS, which represents an obstacle to recycling a significant part of the C&DW, in particular at a local government level. This paper presents guidelines for the recycling of C&DW in municipal and rural roads and in trenches, which could be considered in a new forthcoming LNEC TS. In the preparation of the guidelines, the bibliography collected and analysed, the information gathered from the application of C&DW in a municipal and rural roads of a Portuguese municipality and in the roadways of a Portuguese resort, and the results of laboratory tests carried out on samples collected in the Portuguese municipality were taken into consideration.

Nutritional value, bioactive compounds and antioxidant properties of three edible mushrooms from Poland

Mushrooms contain a multitude of biomolecules with nutritional and/or biological activity. Among the bioactive molecules, phenolic compounds and tocopherols are the most responsible for their antioxidant activity. In the present work, Boletus edulis, Lentinus edodes and Xerocomus badius, three edible mushroom species originated from Poland, were analyzed for their chemical composition and antioxidant activity. Carbohydrates were the most abundant macronutrients, followed by proteins and ash. Fructose, mannitol and trehalose were the prevalent sugars, but glucose was only found in B. edulis. Polyunsaturated fatty acids predominated over mono and saturated fatty acids. Palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids were abundant in the three samples. α- and β- Tocopherols were quantified in all the samples, but γ-tocopherol was only identified in X. badius. Oxalic and fumaric acids were quantified in the three samples; quinic acid was only present in L. edodes, and malic and citric acids were only found in X. badius. p-Hydroxybenzoic, protocatechuic and cinnamic acids were quantified in all the species, while p-coumaric acid was only found in B. edulis. This species and X. badius revealed the highest antioxidant properties, being B. edulis more effective in radicals scavenging activity and reducing power, and X. badius in lipid peroxidation inhibition, which is related with the highest amounts in phenolic compounds and tocopherols, respectively.

Adaptive facade systems - review of performance requirements, design approaches, use cases and market needs

The paper reflects the work of COST Action TU1403 Workgroup 3/Task group 1. The aim is to identify research needs from a review of the state of the art of three aspects related to adaptive façade systems: (1) dynamic performance requirements; (2) façade design under stochastic boundary conditions and (3) experiences with adaptive façade systems and market needs.