Delays in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in a town at the triple border of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina

Objective. To identify the factors linked to patients and health services in delays in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Methods. Epidemiological study in Foz do Iguacu, Parana, Brazil, 2009. The Primary Care Assessment Tool, adapted for appraising tuberculosis treatment, was the instrument used. Descriptive statistics techniques were used, such as frequency distributions, central tendency and dispersion measurements (median and interquartile intervals), and odds ratios. Results. There were greater delays in seeking health services for those in the age group 60 years and older, for females, for patients with low levels of education, and for patients with poor knowledge of the disease. Clinical variables (being a new case and HIV infection) and behavioral variables (use of tobacco and alcohol consumption) were not linked with delays in diagnosis. The median time delays before diagnosis attributable to patients and to the health services were 30 days and 10 days, respectively. Emergency 24-hour medical services and primary health care services were not effective in identifying suspicious cases of tuberculosis and requesting tests to confirm the diagnosis, with a high percentage of referrals to the Tuberculosis Control Program clinic. Conclusions. Going to primary health care services for diagnosis increased the time before diagnosis of the disease was reached. The Tuberculosis Control Program clinic was more effective in diagnosis of tuberculosis, due to the training of the staff and to an organized process for receiving patients, including the availability of tests to support the diagnosis.

Mycetophilidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha) type specimens in the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town

FAPESP [2008/52324-6]

Social support, socioeconomic and clinical risk: comparison between to neighborhoods in a Brazilian upcountry town

The objective of this study was to compare the perceptions of two families living in two different neighborhoods (rated according to risk levels) regarding social support. A questionnaire was designed to assess social support according to the following dimensions: instrumental, emotional, religious, and support from friends, neighbors and family. The sample was comprised as follows: considering the 114 families living in neighborhood 1, 52 families were interviewed; and among the 162 families living in neighborhood 2, 60 families were interviewed. No significant difference was found related to instrumental, religious and emotional support, including the support from relatives among the families from both neighborhoods. The results disagree with the reviewed literature, which indicated a strong association between social support and families living at socioeconomic risk. In conclusion, social support is important for families, regardless of their risk stratification.

New target tracking and monitoring guidance laws for UAV

A pursuer UAV tracking and loitering around a target is the problem analyzed in this thesis. The UAV is assumed to be a fixed-wing vehicle and constant airspeed together with bounded lateral accelerations are the main constraints of the problem. Three different guidance laws are designed for ensuring a continuos overfly on the target. Different proofs are presented to demonstrate the stability properties of the laws. All the algorithms are tested on a 6DoF Pioneer software simulator. Classic control design methods have been adopted to develop autopilots for implementig the simulation platform used for testing the guidance laws.

The physical city and the urban structure: detecting amenity zones and applying urban morphology to New York

The city is a collection of built structures and infrastructure embedded in socio-cultural processes: any investigation into a city’s transformations involves considerations on the degree to which its composite elements respond to socio-economical changes. The main purpose of this research is to investigate how transformations in the functional requirements of New York’s society have spurred, since the 1970s, changes in both the city’s urban structure and physical form. The present work examines the rise of Amenity Zones in New York, and investigates the transformations that have occurred in New York’s built environment since the 1970s. By applying qualitative measures and analyzing the relationship between urban amenities and the creative class, the present work has investigated changes in the urban structure and detected a hierarchical series of amenity zones classes, namely, Super Amenity Zones (SAZs), Nodal Amenity Zones (NAZs) and Peripheral Amenity Zones (PAZs). This series allows for a more comprehensive reading of the urban structure in a complex city like New York, bringing advancements to the amenity zone’s methodology. In order to examine the manner in which the other component of the city, the physical form, has changed or adapted to the new socio-economic condition, the present research has applied Conzenian analysis to a select study area, Atlantic Avenue. The results of this analysis reveal that, contrary to the urban structure, which changes rapidly, the physical form of New York is hard to modify completely, due to the resilience of the town plan and its elements, and to preservation laws; the city rather adapts to socio-economical changes through process of adaptive reuses or conversion. Concluding, this research has examined the dialectic between the ever-changing needs of society and the complexity of the built environment and urban structure, showing the different degrees to which the urban landscape modifies, reacts and sometimes adapts to the population’s functional requirements.

Italian texts as networks: Topological measurements, Zipf and Heaps' laws

In questa tesi si è studiato un corpus di importanti testi della letteratura Italiana utilizzando la teoria dei network. Le misure topologiche tipiche dei network sono state calcolate sui testi letterari, poi sono state studiate le loro distribuzioni e i loro valori medi, per capire quali di esse possono distinguere un testo reale da sue modificazioni. Inoltre si è osservato come tutti i testi presentino due importanti leggi statistiche: la legge di Zipf e quella di Heaps.

Sanctions and public enforcement of insider trading laws in Europe

The recent financial crisis triggered an increasing demand for financial regulation to counteract the potential negative economic effects of the evermore complex operations and instruments available on financial markets. As a result, insider trading regulation counts amongst the relatively recent but particularly active regulation battles in Europe and overseas. Claims for more transparency and equitable securities markets proliferate, ranging from concerns about investor protection to global market stability. The internationalization of the world’s securities market has challenged traditional notions of regulation and enforcement. Considering that insider trading is currently forbidden all over Europe, this study follows a law and economics approach in identifying how this prohibition should be enforced. More precisely, the study investigates first whether criminal law is necessary under all circumstances to enforce insider trading; second, if it should be introduced at EU level. This study provides evidence of law and economics theoretical logic underlying the legal mechanisms that guide sanctioning and public enforcement of the insider trading prohibition by identifying optimal forms, natures and types of sanctions that effectively induce insider trading deterrence. The analysis further aims to reveal the economic rationality that drives the potential need for harmonization of criminal enforcement of insider trading laws within the European environment by proceeding to a comparative analysis of the current legislations of height selected Member States. This work also assesses the European Union’s most recent initiative through a critical analysis of the proposal for a Directive on criminal sanctions for Market Abuse. Based on the conclusions drawn from its close analysis, the study takes on the challenge of analyzing whether or not the actual European public enforcement of the laws prohibiting insider trading is coherent with the theoretical law and economics recommendations, and how these enforcement practices could be improved.

Placing Identity: Town, Land, and Authenticity in Nunavut, Canada

Recent demographic changes have made settlement patterns in the Canadian Arctic increasingly urban. Iqaluit, capital of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut, is home to the largest concentration of Inuit and non-Inuit populations in the Canadian North. Despite these trends, Inuit cultural identity continues to rest heavily on the perception that to learn how to be authentically Inuit (or to be a better person), a person needs to spend time out on the land (and sea) hunting, fishing, trapping, and camping. Many Inuit also maintain a rather negative view of urban spaces in the Arctic, identifying them as places where Inuit values and practices have been eclipsed by Qallunaat (‘‘white people’’) ones. Some Inuit have even gone so far as to claim that a person is no longer able to be Inuit while living in towns like Iqaluit. This article examines those aspects of Canadian Inuit identity, culture, and tradition that disfavor the acceptance of an urban cultural identity. Based on ethnographic research conducted on Baffin Island in the mid 1990s and early 2000s, the many ways Iqaluit and outpost camp Inuit express the differences and similarities between living on the land and living in town are described. Then follows an examination of how the contrast of land and town is used in the rhetoric of Inuit politicians and leaders. Finally, a series of counterexamples are presented that favor the creation of an authentic urban Inuit identity in the Arctic, including recent attempts on the part of the Nunavut Territorial Government to make education and wage employment in the region more reliant on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or Inuit traditional knowledge.1

Time to initiation of antiretroviral therapy among patients with HIV-associated tuberculosis in Cape Town, South Africa

We studied the time interval between starting tuberculosis treatment and commencing antiretroviral treatment (ART) in HIV-infected patients (n = 1433; median CD4 count 71 cells per microliter, interquartile range: 32-132) attending 3 South African township ART services between 2002 and 2008. The overall median delay was 2.66 months (interquartile range: 1.58-4.17). In adjusted analyses, delays varied between treatment sites but were shorter for patients with lower CD4 counts and those treated in more recent calendar years. During the most recent period (2007-2008), 4.7%, 19.7%, and 51.1% of patients started ART within 2, 4, and 8 weeks of tuberculosis treatment, respectively. Operational barriers must be tackled to permit further acceleration of ART initiation as recommended by 2010 WHO ART guidelines.