904 resultados para Test data
Resumo:
An area believed to be an autochthonous focus for Chagas' disease was investigated in the municipality of Caxias, Rio de Janeiro State. The study included search for domestic triatomine bugs, serological test (IFT and CFT) in persons in whose house infested bugs were discovered, detailed clinicai examination and xenodiagnosis test of ali serologicall/ yy positive persons, and xenodiagnosis test on dogs from households in which infected triatomine bugs have been found. Only in one of the locatities (Piranema) domestic Triatoma infestans have been discovered. some of which were infected with T. cruzi. A small number of persons (mostly children) had a positive serologicál test for Chagas’ disease, but in all of them the infection was clinically asymptomatic. From two dogs, belonging to a household in which serologically positive children and infected T. infestans were discovered, T. cruzi was isolated by xenodiagnosis. The importunt epidemiological information obtained from this investigation was the discovery of domestic adaptation of T. infestans in an area with dense population .and with very low social and sanitary conditions, in a locality considered as non-endemic for the infection.
Resumo:
"Quantitative Buffy Coat" (QBC®) is a direct and fast fluorescent method used for the identification of blood parasites. Since Leishmania chagasi circulates in blood, we decided to test it in American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL). Bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) of 49 persons and PB of 31 dogs were analyzed. QBC® was positive in BM of 11/11 patients with AVL and in 1/6 patients with other diseases. Amastigotes were identified in PB of 18/22 patients with AVL and in none without AVL. The test was positive in 30 out of the 31 seropositive dogs and in 28/28 dogs with Leishmania identified in other tissues. QBC® is a promising method for diagnosis of human AVL, and possibly for the exam of PB of patients with AVL/AIDS, for the control of the cure and for the identification of asymptomatic carriers. Because it is fast and easy to collect and execute, QBC® should be evaluated for programs of reservoir control.
Resumo:
Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial
Resumo:
Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática
Resumo:
INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis of dengue and the differentiation between primary and secondary infections are important for monitoring the spread of the epidemic and identifying the risk of severe forms of the disease. The detection of immunoglobulin (Ig)M and IgG antibodies is the main technique for the laboratory diagnosis of dengue. The present study assessed the application of a rapid test for dengue concerning detection of new cases, reinfection recognition, and estimation of the epidemic attack rate. METHODS: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study on dengue using the Fortaleza Health Municipal Department database. The results from 1,530 tested samples, from 2005-2006, were compared with data from epidemiological studies of dengue outbreaks in 1996, 2003, and 2010. RESULTS: The rapid test confirmed 52% recent infections in the tested patients with clinical suspicion of dengue: 40% detected using IgM and 12% of new cases using IgG in the non-reactive IgM results. The positive IgM plus negative IgG (IgM+ plus IgG-) results showed that 38% of those patients had a recent primary dengue infection, while the positive IgG plus either positive or negative IgM (IgG+ plus IgM+/-) results indicated that 62% had dengue for at least a second time (recent secondary infections). This proportion of reinfections permitted us to estimate the attack rate as >62% of the population sample. CONCLUSIONS: The rapid test for dengue has enhanced our ability to detect new infections and to characterize them into primary and secondary infections, permitting the estimation of the minimal attack rate for a population during an outbreak.
Resumo:
Introduction Dengue is prevalent in many tropical and sub-tropical regions. The clinical diagnosis of dengue is still complex, and not much data are available. This work aimed at assessing the diagnostic accuracy of the tourniquet test in patients with suspected dengue infection and its positivity in different classifications of this disease as reported to the Information System for Notifiable Disease in Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil between 2001 and 2006. Methods Cross-section analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of the tourniquet test for dengue, using IgM-anti-DENV ELISA as a gold standard. Results We selected 9,836 suspected cases, of which 41.1% were confirmed to be dengue. Classic dengue was present in 95.8%, dengue with complications in 2.5% and dengue hemorrhagic fever in 1.7%. The tourniquet test was positive in 16.9% of classic dengue cases, 61.7% of dengue cases with complications and 82.9% of cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever. The sensitivity and specificity of the tourniquet test were 19.1% and 86.4%, respectively. Conclusions A positive tourniquet test can be a valuable tool to support diagnosis of dengue where laboratory tests are not available. However, the absence of a positive test should not be read as the absence of infection. In addition, the tourniquet test was demonstrated to be an indicator of dengue severity.
Resumo:
The catastrophic disruption in the USA financial system in the wake of the financial crisis prompted the Federal Reserve to launch a Quantitative Easing (QE) programme in late 2008. In line with Pesaran and Smith (2014), I use a policy effectiveness test to assess whether this massive asset purchase programme was effective in stimulating the economic activity in the USA. Specifically, I employ an Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL), in order to obtain a counterfactual for the USA real GDP growth rate. Using data from 1983Q1 to 2009Q4, the results show that the beneficial effects of QE appear to be weak and rather short-lived. The null hypothesis of policy ineffectiveness is not rejected, which suggests that QE did not have a meaningful impact on output growth.
Resumo:
Introduction Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) may improve the early detection of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), but their real-world performance requires additional study. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of an rK39-based RDT (Kalazar Detect™) for the detection of VL in an endemic, large urban area. Methods Data were collected from a registry of rK39 RDT performed at 11 emergency care units in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and from a national database of reportable communicable diseases of the Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN). Results The rapid rK39 test was performed in 476 patients, with 114 (23.9%) positive results. The analysis of rK39 RDT performance was based on 381 (80%) cases reported to the SINAN database, of which 145 (38.1%) were confirmed cases. Estimates for sensitivity and specificity were 72.4% (95% CI: 64.6-79%) and 99.6% (95%CI: 97.6-99.9%), respectively. Positive and negative predictive values were estimated at 99.1% (95%CI: 94.9-99.8%) and 85.5% (95%CI: 80.8-89.1%), respectively. In addition, close agreement between the rK39 RDT and indirect immunofluorescence was observed. Conclusions In summary, the rK39 RDT showed a high specificity but only moderate sensitivity. In endemic areas for VL, treatment may be considered in cases with clinical manifestations and a positive rK39 RDT, but those with a negative test should be subjected to further investigation.
Resumo:
PURPOSE: Two groups of girls with premature breast development were studied retrospectively. We tried to identify clinical, radiological, and hormonal parameters that could distinguish between a benign, nonprogressive premature thelarche and a true precocious puberty. METHODS: The clinical outcome of 88 girls with breast enlargement before 6.1 years of age was analyzed. Taking into account the progression of their sexual maturation, we allocated the children into 2 groups: "Isolated Premature Thelarche" (n = 63) and "Precocious Puberty" (n = 25) groups. Chronological and bone ages, height and growth velocity centiles, computerized tomography of hypothalamus-pituitary area, pelvic ultrasonography, gonadotropin response to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone stimulation as well as basal levels of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, estradiol, and prolactin were studied in both groups. Statistical analysis were performed using the Student t test to compare the sample means. Fisher's exact test and chi² test were used to analyze the nonparametric variables. RESULTS: Isolated premature thelarche most frequently affected girls younger than 2 years who presented exaggerated follicle-stimulating hormone response to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone stimulation test. The precocious puberty group had higher initial stature, accelerated growth rate and bone age, increased uterine and ovarian volumes, high spontaneous luteinizing hormone levels by immunofluorimetric assay, as well as a high luteinizing hormone response and peak luteinizing hormone/follicle-stimulating hormone ratio after luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone stimulation. CONCLUSION: At initial presentation, girls who undergo true precocious puberty present advanced bone age, increased uterine and ovarian volumes in addition to breast enlargement, as well as an luteinizing hormone-predominant response after a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone stimulation test.
Resumo:
This paper presents a methodology based on the Bayesian data fusion techniques applied to non-destructive and destructive tests for the structural assessment of historical constructions. The aim of the methodology is to reduce the uncertainties of the parameter estimation. The Young's modulus of granite stones was chosen as an example for the present paper. The methodology considers several levels of uncertainty since the parameters of interest are considered random variables with random moments. A new concept of Trust Factor was introduced to affect the uncertainty related to each test results, translated by their standard deviation, depending on the higher or lower reliability of each test to predict a certain parameter.
Discussing Chevalier’s data on the efficiency of tariffs for american and french canals in the 1830s
Resumo:
This article revisits Michel Chevalier’s work and discussions of tariffs. Chevalier shifted from Saint-Simonism to economic liberalism during his life in the 19th century. His influence was soon perceived in the political world and economic debates, mainly because of his discussion of tariffs as instruments of efficient transport policies. This work discusses Chevalier’s thoughts on tariffs by revisiting his masterpiece, Le Cours d’Économie Politique. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was conducted to test Chevalier’s hypothesis on the inefficiency of French tariffs. This work showed that Chevalier’s claims on French tariffs are not validated by DEA.
Resumo:
The research aimed to establish tyre-road noise models by using a Data Mining approach that allowed to build a predictive model and assess the importance of the tested input variables. The data modelling took into account three learning algorithms and three metrics to define the best predictive model. The variables tested included basic properties of pavement surfaces, macrotexture, megatexture, and uneven- ness and, for the first time, damping. Also, the importance of those variables was measured by using a sensitivity analysis procedure. Two types of models were set: one with basic variables and another with complex variables, such as megatexture and damping, all as a function of vehicles speed. More detailed models were additionally set by the speed level. As a result, several models with very good tyre-road noise predictive capacity were achieved. The most relevant variables were Speed, Temperature, Aggregate size, Mean Profile Depth, and Damping, which had the highest importance, even though influenced by speed. Megatexture and IRI had the lowest importance. The applicability of the models developed in this work is relevant for trucks tyre-noise prediction, represented by the AVON V4 test tyre, at the early stage of road pavements use. Therefore, the obtained models are highly useful for the design of pavements and for noise prediction by road authorities and contractors.
Resumo:
Body and brain undergo several changes with aging. One of the domains in which these changes are more remarkable relates with cognitive performance. In the present work, electroencephalogram (EEG) markers (power spectral density and spectral coherence) of age-related cognitive decline were sought whilst the subjects performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Considering the expected age-related cognitive deficits, WCST was applied to young, mid-age and elderly participants, and the theta and alpha frequency bands were analyzed. From the results herein presented, higher theta and alpha power were found to be associated with a good performance in the WCST of younger subjects. Additionally, higher theta and alpha coherence were also associated with good performance and were shown to decline with age and a decrease in alpha peak frequency seems to be associated with aging. Additionally, inter-hemispheric long-range coherences and parietal theta power were identified as age-independent EEG correlates of cognitive performance. In summary, these data reveals age-dependent as well as age-independent EEG correlates of cognitive performance that contribute to the understanding of brain aging and related cognitive deficits.
Resumo:
Article first published online: 13 NOV 2013
Resumo:
Current data mining engines are difficult to use, requiring optimizations by data mining experts in order to provide optimal results. To solve this problem a new concept was devised, by maintaining the functionality of current data mining tools and adding pervasive characteristics such as invisibility and ubiquity which focus on their users, providing better ease of use and usefulness, by providing autonomous and intelligent data mining processes. This article introduces an architecture to implement a data mining engine, composed by four major components: database; Middleware (control); Middleware (processing); and interface. These components are interlinked but provide independent scaling, allowing for a system that adapts to the user’s needs. A prototype has been developed in order to test the architecture. The results are very promising and showed their functionality and the need for further improvements.