The use of canonical correlation analysis to assess the relationship between executive functioning and verbal memory in older adults

Executive functioning (EF), which is considered to govern complex cognition, and verbal memory (VM) are constructs assumed to be related. However, it is not known the magnitude of the association between EF and VM, and how sociodemographic and psychological factors may affect this relationship, including in normal aging. In this study, we assessed different EF and VM parameters, via a battery of neurocognitive/psychological tests, and performed a Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) to explore the connection between these constructs, in a sample of middle- aged and older healthy individuals without cognitive impairment (N = 563, 50+ years of age). The analysis revealed a positive and moderate association between EF and VM independently of gender, age, education, global cognitive performance level, and mood. These results confirm that EF presents a significant association with VM performance.

Contributo para o estudo da tutela do promitente - comprador

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito Judiciário

Cardiac abnormalities in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. A prospective study with a clinical-pathological correlation in twenty-one adult patients

OBJECTIVE - To evaluate the cardiac abnormalities and their evolution during the course of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, as well as to correlate clinical and pathological data. METHODS - Twenty-one patients, admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, were prospectively studied and followed until their death. Age ranged from 19 to 42 years (17 males). ECG and echocardiogram were also obtained every six months. After death, macro- and microscopic examinations were also performed. RESULTS - The most frequent causes of referral to the hospital were: diarrhea or repeated pneumonias, tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis or Kaposi sarcoma. The most frequent findings were acute or chronic pericarditis (42%) and dilated cardiomyopathy (19%). Four patients died of cardiac problems: infective endocarditis, pericarditis with pericardial effusion, bacterial myocarditis and infection by Toxoplasma gondii. CONCLUSION - Severe cardiac abnormalities were the cause of death in some patients. In the majority of the patients, a good correlation existed between clinical and anatomical-pathological data. Cardiac evaluation was important to detect early manifestations and treat them accordingly, even in asymptomatic patients.

Hazard assessment of storm events for the battery, New York

The environmental and socio-economic importance of coastal areas is widely recognized, but at present these areas face severe weaknesses and high-risk situations. The increased demand and growing human occupation of coastal zones have greatly contributed to exacerbating such weaknesses. Today, throughout the world, in all countries with coastal regions, episodes of waves overtopping and coastal flooding are frequent. These episodes are usually responsible for property losses and often put human lives at risk. The floods are caused by coastal storms primarily due to the action of very strong winds. The propagation of these storms towards the coast induces high water levels. It is expected that climate change phenomena will contribute to the intensification of coastal storms. In this context, an estimation of coastal flooding hazards is of paramount importance for the planning and management of coastal zones. Consequently, carrying out a series of storm scenarios and analyzing their impacts through numerical modeling is of prime interest to coastal decision-makers. Firstly, throughout this work, historical storm tracks and intensities are characterized for the northeastern region of United States coast, in terms of probability of occurrence. Secondly, several storm events with high potential of occurrence are generated using a specific tool of DelftDashboard interface for Delft3D software. Hydrodynamic models are then used to generate ensemble simulations to assess storms' effects on coastal water levels. For the United States’ northeastern coast, a highly refined regional domain is considered surrounding the area of The Battery, New York, situated in New York Harbor. Based on statistical data of numerical modeling results, a review of the impact of coastal storms to different locations within the study area is performed.

Congestive heart failure. Correlation between functional class and systolic and diastolic functions assessed by Doppler echocardiography

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of systolic or diastolic dysfunction, or both on congestive heart failure functional class. METHODS: Thirty-six consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of congestive heart failure with sinus rhythm, who were seen between September and November of 1998 answered an adapted questionnaire about tolerance to physical activity for the determination of NYHA functional class. The patients were studied with transthoracic Doppler echocardiography. Two groups were compared: group 1 (19 patients in functional classes I and II) and group 2 (17 patients in functional classes III and IV). RESULTS: The average ejection fraction was significantly higher in group 1 (44.84%±8.04% vs. 32.59%±11.48% with p=0.0007). The mean ratio of the initial/final maximum diastolic filling velocity (E/A) of the left ventricle was significantly smaller in group 1 (1.07±0.72 vs. 1.98±1.49 with p=0.03). The average maximum systolic pulmonary venous velocity (S) was significantly higher in group 1 (53.53cm/s ± 12.02cm/s vs. 43.41cm/s ± 13.55cm/s with p=0.02). The mean ratio of maximum systolic/diastolic pulmonary venous velocity was significantly higher in group 1 (1.52±0.48 vs. 1.08±0.48 with p=0.01). A predominance of pseudo-normal and restrictive diastolic patterns existed in group 2 (58.83% in group 2 vs. 21.06% in group 1 with p=0.03). CONCLUSION: Both the systolic dysfunction index and the patterns of diastolic dysfunction evaluated by Doppler echocardiography worsened with the evolution of congestive heart failure.

Critical events in mechanically ventilated patients

Mechanical Ventilation is an artificial way to help a Patient to breathe. This procedure is used to support patients with respiratory diseases however in many cases it can provoke lung damages, Acute Respiratory Diseases or organ failure. With the goal to early detect possible patient breath problems a set of limit values was defined to some variables monitored by the ventilator (Average Ventilation Pressure, Compliance Dynamic, Flow, Peak, Plateau and Support Pressure, Positive end-expiratory pressure, Respiratory Rate) in order to create critical events. A critical event is verified when a patient has a value higher or lower than the normal range defined for a certain period of time. The values were defined after elaborate a literature review and meeting with physicians specialized in the area. This work uses data streaming and intelligent agents to process the values collected in real-time and classify them as critical or not. Real data provided by an Intensive Care Unit were used to design and test the solution. In this study it was possible to understand the importance of introduce critical events for Mechanically Ventilated Patients. In some cases a value is considered critical (can trigger an alarm) however it is a single event (instantaneous) and it has not a clinical significance for the patient. The introduction of critical events which crosses a range of values and a pre-defined duration contributes to improve the decision-making process by decreasing the number of false positives and having a better comprehension of the patient condition.

Real-Time decision support using data mining to predict blood pressure critical events in intensive medicine patients

Patient blood pressure is an important vital signal to the physicians take a decision and to better understand the patient condition. In Intensive Care Units is possible monitoring the blood pressure due the fact of the patient being in continuous monitoring through bedside monitors and the use of sensors. The intensivist only have access to vital signs values when they look to the monitor or consult the values hourly collected. Most important is the sequence of the values collected, i.e., a set of highest or lowest values can signify a critical event and bring future complications to a patient as is Hypotension or Hypertension. This complications can leverage a set of dangerous diseases and side-effects. The main goal of this work is to predict the probability of a patient has a blood pressure critical event in the next hours by combining a set of patient data collected in real-time and using Data Mining classification techniques. As output the models indicate the probability (%) of a patient has a Blood Pressure Critical Event in the next hour. The achieved results showed to be very promising, presenting sensitivity around of 95%.

Primary coronary angioplasty in 9,434 patients during acute myocardial infarction: predictors of major in- hospital adverse events from 1996 to 2000 in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To verify the results after the performance of primary coronary angioplasty in Brazil in the last 4 years. METHODS: During the first 24 hours of acute myocardial infarction onset, 9,434 (12.2%) patients underwent primary PTCA. We analyzed the success and occurrence of major in-hospital events, comparing them over the 4-year period. RESULTS: Primary PTCA use increased compared with that of all percutaneous interventions (1996=10.6% vs. 2000=13.1%; p<0.001). Coronary stent implantation increased (1996=20% vs. 2000=71.9%; p<0.001). Success was greater (1998=89.5% vs. 1999=92.5%; p<0.001). Reinfarction decreased (1998=3.9% vs. 99=2.4% vs. 2000=1.5%; p<0.001) as did emergency bypass surgery (1996=0.5% vs. 2000=0.2%; p=0.01). In-hospital deaths remained unchanged (1996=5.7% vs. 2000=5.1%, p=0.53). Balloon PTCA was one of the independent predictors of a higher rate of unsuccessful procedures (odds ratio 12.01 [CI=95%] 1.58-22.94), and stent implantation of lower mortality rates (odds ratio 4.62 [CI=95%] 3.19-6.08). CONCLUSION: The success rate has become progressively higher with a significant reduction in reinfarction and urgent bypass surgery, but in-hospital death remains nearly unchanged. Coronary stenting was a predictor of a lower death rate, and balloon PTCA was associated with greater procedural failure.

Correlation between turbidimetric and nephelometric methods of measuring C-reactive protein in patients with unstable angina or non-ST elevation acute myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of the turbidimetric method of C-reactive protein (CRP) as a measure of low-grade inflammation in patients admitted with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes (ACS). METHODS: Serum samples obtained at hospital arrival from 68 patients (66±11 years, 40 men), admitted with unstable angina or non-ST elevation acute myocardial infarction were used to measure CRP by the methods of nephelometry and turbidimetry. RESULTS: The medians of C-reactive protein by the turbidimetric and nephelometric methods were 0.5 mg/dL and 0.47 mg/dL, respectively. A strong linear association existed between the 2 methods, according to the regression coefficient (b=0.75; 95% C.I.=0.70-0.80) and correlation coefficient (r=0.96; P<0.001). The mean difference between the nephelometric and turbidimetric CRP was 0.02 ± 0.91 mg/dL, and 100% agreement between the methods in the detection of high CRP was observed. CONCLUSION: In patients with non-ST elevation ACS, CRP values obtained by turbidimetry show a strong linear association with the method of nephelometry and perfect agreement in the detection of high CRP.

Behavior of inflammatory markers of myocardial injury in cardiac surgery: laboratory correlation with the clinical picture of postpericardiotomy syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To verify the association of serum markers of myocardial injury, such as troponin I, creatinine kinase, and creatinine kinase isoenzyme MB, and inflammatory markers, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), C-reactive protein, and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate in the perioperative period of cardiac surgery, with the occurrence of possible postpericardiotomy syndrome. METHODS: This was a cohort study with 96 patients undergoing cardiac surgery assessed at the following 4 different time periods: the day before surgery (D0); the 3rd postoperative day (D3); between the 7th and 10th postoperative days (D7-10); and the 30th postoperative day (D30). During each period, we evaluated demographic variables (sex and age), surgical variables (type and duration , extracorporeal circulation), and serum dosages of the markers of myocardial injury and inflammatory response. RESULTS: Of all patients, 12 (12.5%) met the clinical criteria for a diagnosis of postpericardiotomy syndrome, and their mean age was 10.3 years lower than the age of the others (P=0.02). The results of the serum markers for tissue injury and inflammatory response were not significantly different between the 2 assessed groups. No significant difference existed regarding either surgery duration or extracorporeal circulation. CONCLUSION: The patients who met the clinical criteria for postpericardiotomy syndrome were significantly younger than the others were. Serum markers for tissue injury and inflammatory response were not different in the clinically affected group, and did not correlate with the different types and duration of surgery or with extracorporeal circulation.

O crescimento do sector bancário e a concessão de crédito às empresas : o caso de Angola

Mestrado em Ciências Empresariais

Errores en sistemas de procesamiento de datos debido a eventos transitorios en interfaces analógicas: aportes a la mitigación de los mismos. Errors in data processing systems due to single transient events affecting analog interfaces: contributions to their mitigation.

Los eventos transitorios únicos analógicos (ASET, Analog Single Event Transient) se producen debido a la interacción de un ión pesado o un protón de alta energía con un dispositivo sensible de un circuito analógico. La interacción del ión con un transistor bipolar o de efecto de campo MOS induce pares electrón-hueco que provocan picos que pueden propagarse a la salida del componente analógico provocando transitorios que pueden inducir fallas en el nivel sistema. Los problemas más graves debido a este tipo de fenómeno se dan en el medioambiente espacial, muy rico en iones pesados. Casos típicos los constituyen las computadoras de a bordo de satélites y otros artefactos espaciales. Sin embargo, y debido a la continua contracción de dimensiones de los transistores (que trae aparejado un aumento de sensibilidad), este fenómeno ha comenzado a observarse a nivel del mar, provocado fundamentalmente por el impacto de neutrones atmosféricos. Estos efectos pueden provocar severos problemas a los sistemas informáticos con interfaces analógicas desde las que obtienen datos para el procesamiento y se han convertido en uno de los problemas más graves a los que tienen que hacer frente los diseñadores de sistemas de alta escala de integración. Casos típicos son los Sistemas en Chip que incluyen módulos de procesamiento de altas prestaciones como las interfaces analógicas.El proyecto persigue como objetivo general estudiar la susceptibilidad de sistemas informáticos a ASETs en sus secciones analógicas, proponiendo estrategias para la mitigación de los errores.Como objetivos específicos se pretende: -Proponer nuevos modelos de ASETs basados en simulaciones en el nivel dispositivo y resueltas por el método de elementos finitos.-Utilizar los modelos para identificar las secciones más propensas a producir errores y consecuentemente para ser candidatos a la aplicación de técnicas de endurecimiento a radiaciones.-Utilizar estos modelos para estudiar la naturaleza de los errores producidos en sistemas de procesamiento de datos.-Proponer soluciones novedosas para la mitigación de estos efectos en los mismos circuitos analógicos evitando su propagación a las secciones digitales.-Proponer soluciones para la mitigación de los efectos en el nivel sistema.Para llevar a cabo el proyecto se plantea un procedimiento ascendente para las investigaciones a realizar, comenzando por descripciones en el nivel físico para posteriormente aumentar el nivel de abstracción en el que se encuentra modelado el circuito. Se propone el modelado físico de los dispositivos MOS y su resolución mediante el Método de Elementos Finitos. La inyección de cargas en las zonas sensibles de los modelos permitirá determinar los perfiles de los pulsos de corriente que deben inyectarse en el nivel circuito para emular estos efectos. Estos procedimientos se realizarán para los distintos bloques constructivos de las interfaces analógicas, proponiendo estrategias de mitigación de errores en diferentes niveles.Los resultados esperados del presente proyecto incluyen hardware para detección de errores y tolerancia a este tipo de eventos que permitan aumentar la confiabilidad de sistemas de tratamiento de la información, así como también nuevos datos referentes a efectos de la radiación en semiconductores, nuevos modelos de fallas transitorias que permitan una simulación de estos eventos en el nivel circuito y la determinación de zonas sensibles de interfaces analógicas típicas que deben ser endurecidas para radiación.

Negative Correlation Between of Light Ions Content and Radon Concentration: Particularity of Tbilisi City Air Pollution, or Norm for the Urbanized Locality?

In Tbilisi according to the data of the complex monitoring of light ions concentration, radon and sub-micron aerosols the effect of feedback of intensity of ionizing radiation with the light ions content in atmosphere is discovered.

Baroreflex Sensitivity and its Association with Arrhythmic Events in Chagas Disease

Background:Sudden death is the leading cause of death in Chagas disease (CD), even in patients with preserved ejection fraction (EF), suggesting that destabilizing factors of the arrhythmogenic substrate (autonomic modulation) contribute to its occurrence.Objective:To determine baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in patients with undetermined CD (GI), arrhythmogenic CD with nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) (GII) and CD with spontaneous sustained ventricular tachycardia (STV) (GIII), to evaluate its association with the occurrence and complexity of arrhythmias.Method:Forty-two patients with CD underwent ECG and continuous and noninvasive BP monitoring (TASK force monitor). The following were determined: BRS (phenylephrine method); heart rate variability (HRV) on 24-h Holter; and EF (echocardiogram).Results:GIII had lower BRS (6.09 ms/mm Hg) as compared to GII (11.84) and GI (15.23). The difference was significant between GI and GIII (p = 0.01). Correlating BRS with the density of ventricular extrasystoles (VE), low VE density (<10/h) was associated with preserved BRS. Only 59% of the patients with high VE density (> 10/h) had preserved BRS (p = 0.003). Patients with depressed BRS had higher VE density (p = 0.01), regardless of the EF. The BRS was the only variable related to the occurrence of SVT (p = 0.028).Conclusion:The BRS is preserved in undetermined CD. The BRS impairment increases as disease progresses, being more severe in patients with more complex ventricular arrhythmias. The degree of autonomic dysfunction did not correlate with EF, but with the density and complexity of ventricular arrhythmias.