Beach sand and the potential for infectious disease transmission: observations and recommendations

Recent studies suggest that sand can serve as a vehicle for exposure of humans to pathogens at beach sites, resulting in increased health risks. Sampling for microorganisms in sand should therefore be considered for inclusion in regulatory programmes aimed at protecting recreational beach users from infectious disease. Here, we review the literature on pathogen levels in beach sand, and their potential for affecting human health. In an effort to provide specific recommendations for sand sampling programmes, we outline published guidelines for beach monitoring programmes, which are currently focused exclusively on measuring microbial levels in water. We also provide background on spatial distribution and temporal characteristics of microbes in sand, as these factors influence sampling programmes. First steps toward establishing a sand sampling programme include identifying appropriate beach sites and use of initial sanitary assessments to refine site selection. A tiered approach is recommended for monitoring. This approach would include the analysis of samples from many sites for faecal indicator organisms and other conventional analytes, while testing for specific pathogens and unconventional indicators is reserved for high-risk sites. Given the diversity of microbes found in sand, studies are urgently needed to identify the most significant aetiological agent of disease and to relate microbial measurements in sand to human health risk.

Engineering PROFIBUS networks with heterogeneous transmission media

A significant number of process control and factory automation systems use PROFIBUS as the underlying fieldbus communication network. The process of properly setting up a PROFIBUS network is not a straightforward task. In fact, a number of network parameters must be set for guaranteeing the required levels of timeliness and dependability. Engineering PROFIBUS networks is even more subtle when the network includes various physical segments exhibiting heterogeneous specifications, such as bus speed or frame formats, just to mention a few. In this paper we provide underlying theory and a methodology to guarantee the proper operation of such type of heterogeneous PROFIBUS networks. We additionally show how the methodology can be applied to the practical case of PROFIBUS networks containing simultaneously DP (Decentralised Periphery) and PA (Process Automation) segments, two of the most used commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) PROFIBUS solutions. The importance of the findings is however not limited to this case. The proposed methodology can be generalised to cover other heterogeneous infrastructures. Hybrid wired/wireless solutions are just an example for which an enormous eagerness exists.

Prevalence of syphilis in pregnancy and prenatal syphilis testing in Brazil: Birth in Brazil study

OBJECTIVE Determine the coverage rate of syphilis testing during prenatal care and the prevalence of syphilis in pregnant women in Brazil. METHODS This is a national hospital-based cohort study conducted in Brazil with 23,894 postpartum women between 2011 and 2012. Data were obtained using interviews with postpartum women, hospital records, and prenatal care cards. All postpartum women with a reactive serological test result recorded in the prenatal care card or syphilis diagnosis during hospitalization for childbirth were considered cases of syphilis in pregnancy. The Chi-square test was used for determining the disease prevalence and testing coverage rate by region of residence, self-reported skin color, maternal age, and type of prenatal and child delivery care units. RESULTS Prenatal care covered 98.7% postpartum women. Syphilis testing coverage rate was 89.1% (one test) and 41.2% (two tests), and syphilis prevalence in pregnancy was 1.02% (95%CI 0.84;1.25). A lower prenatal coverage rate was observed among women in the North region, indigenous women, those with less education, and those who received prenatal care in public health care units. A lower testing coverage rate was observed among residents in the North, Northeast, and Midwest regions, among younger and non-white skin-color women, among those with lower education, and those who received prenatal care in public health care units. An increased prevalence of syphilis was observed among women with < 8 years of education (1.74%), who self-reported as black (1.8%) or mixed (1.2%), those who did not receive prenatal care (2.5%), and those attending public (1.37%) or mixed (0.93%) health care units. CONCLUSIONS The estimated prevalence of syphilis in pregnancy was similar to that reported in the last sentinel surveillance study conducted in 2006. There was an improvement in prenatal care and testing coverage rate, and the goals suggested by the World Health Organization were achieved in two regions. Regional and social inequalities in access to health care units, coupled with other gaps in health assistance, have led to the persistence of congenital syphilis as a major public health problem in Brazil.

Simulation of offshore wind system with two levels converters: HVDC power transmission

A new integrated mathematical model for the simulation of offshore wind energy conversion system performance is presented in this paper. The mathematical model considers an offshore variable-speed turbine in deep water equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous generator using full-power two-level converter, converting the energy of a variable frequency source in injected energy into the electric network with constant frequency, through a high voltage DC transmission submarine cable. The mathematical model for the drive train is a concentrate two mass model which incorporates the dynamic for the structure and tower due to the need to emulate the effects of the moving surface. Controller strategy considered is a proportional integral one. Also, pulse width modulation using space vector modulation supplemented with sliding mode is used for trigger the transistor of the converter. Finally, a case study is presented to access the system performance. © 2014 IEEE.

Spatial patterns of leprosy in a hyperendemic state in Northern Brazil, 2001-2012

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To describe the spatial patterns of leprosy in the Brazilian state of Tocantins. METHODS This study was based on morbidity data obtained from the Sistema de Informações de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN – Brazilian Notifiable Diseases Information System), of the Ministry of Health. All new leprosy cases in individuals residing in the state of Tocantins, between 2001 and 2012, were included. In addition to the description of general disease indicators, a descriptive spatial analysis, empirical Bayesian analysis and spatial dependence analysis were performed by means of global and local Moran’s indexes. RESULTS A total of 14,542 new cases were recorded during the period under study. Based on the annual case detection rate, 77.0% of the municipalities were classified as hyperendemic (> 40 cases/100,000 inhabitants). Regarding the annual case detection rate in < 15 years-olds, 65.4% of the municipalities were hyperendemic (10.0 to 19.9 cases/100,000 inhabitants); 26.6% had a detection rate of grade 2 disability cases between 5.0 and 9.9 cases/100,000 inhabitants. There was a geographical overlap of clusters of municipalities with high detection rates in hyperendemic areas. Clusters with high disease risk (global Moran’s index: 0.51; p < 0.001), ongoing transmission (0.47; p < 0.001) and late diagnosis (0.44; p < 0.001) were identified mainly in the central-north and southwestern regions of Tocantins. CONCLUSIONS We identified high-risk clusters for transmission and late diagnosis of leprosy in the Brazilian state of Tocantins. Surveillance and control measures should be prioritized in these high-risk municipalities.

Effects of acupressure on progress of labor and cesarean section rate: randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVE To analyze the effects of acupressure at the SP6 point on labor duration and cesarean section rates in parturients served in a public maternity hospital.METHODS This controlled, randomized, double-blind, pragmatic clinical trial involved 156 participants with gestational age ≥ 37 weeks, cervical dilation ≥ 4 cm, and ≥ 2 contractions in 10 min. The women were randomly divided into an acupressure, placebo, or control group at a university hospital in an inland city in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2013. Acupressure was applied to the SP6 point during contractions for 20 min.RESULTS The average labor duration was significantly different between the SP6 acupressure group [221.5 min (SD = 162.4)] versus placebo [397.9 min (SD = 265.6)] and versus control [381.9 min (SD = 358.3)] (p = 0.0047); however, the groups were similar regarding the cesarean section rates (p = 0.2526) and Apgar scores in the first minute (p = 0.9542) and the fifth minute (p = 0.7218) of life of the neonate.CONCLUSIONS The SP6 acupressure point proved to be a complementary measure to induce labor and may shorten the labor duration without causing adverse effects to the mother or the newborn. However, it did not affect the cesarean section rate.

A high-rate mimo receiver in an FPGA

This paper describes the hardware implementation of a High-Rate MIMO Receiver in an FPGA for three modulations, namely BPSK, QPSK and 16-QAM based on the Alamouti scheme. The implementation with 16-QAM achieves more than 1.6 Gbps with 66% of the resources of a medium-sized Virtex-4 FPGA. This results indicate that the Alamouti scheme is a good design option for hardware implementation of a high-rate MIMO receiver. Also, using an FPGA, the modulation can be dynamically changed on demand.

Response rate in the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents – ERICA

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To describe the response rate and characteristics of people who either took part or not in from the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents (ERICA) , according to information subsets. METHODS ERICA is a school-based, nation-wide investigation with a representative sample of 12 to 17-year-old adolescents attending public or private schools in municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants in Brazil. Response rate of eligible subjects were calculated according to macro-regions, sex, age, and type of school (public or private). We also calculated the percentages of replacement schools in comparison with the ones originally selected as per the sample design, according to the types of schools in the macro-regions. The subjects and non-subjects were compared according to sex, age, and average body mass indices (kg/m2). RESULTS We had 102,327 eligible adolescents enrolled in the groups drawn. The highest percentage of complete information was obtained for the subset of the questionnaire (72.9%). Complete information regarding anthropometric measurements and the ones from the questionnaire were obtained for 72.0% of the adolescents, and the combination of these data with the 24-hour dietary recall were obtained for 70.3% of the adolescents. Complete information from the questionnaire plus biochemical blood evaluation data were obtained for 52.5% of the morning session adolescents (selected for blood tests). The response percentage in private schools was higher than the one in public schools for most of the combination of information. The ratio of older and male adolescents non-participants was higher than the ratio among participants. CONCLUSIONS The response rate for non-invasive procedures was high. The response rate for blood collection – an invasive procedure that requires a 12-hour fasting period and the informed consent form from legal guardians – was lower. The response rate observed in public schools was lower than in the private ones, and that may reflect lower school frequency of registered students.

Digital-domain self-calibration technique for video-rate pipeline A/D converters using Gaussian white noise

Electronics Letters Vol.38, nº 19

Cultural innovation and transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees:evidence from field experiments

Animal Cognition, V.6, pp. 213-223

Dynamics of transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in a rural area of Argentina: III. Persistence of T. cruzi parasitemia among canine reservoirs in a two-year follow-up

A new cross-sectional survey of household- associated mongrel dogs as well as follow-up of previously parasitemic individuals was carried out in 1984 toy means of xenodiagnosis and serologic techniques to get a deeper insight into the relationship of T. cruzi parasitemia and age among canine hosts in a rural area of Argentina. Persistence of detectable parasitemia was age-independent, or at most, loosely related to age, confirming the pattern observed in 1982. Similarly no significant age-decreasing effect was recorded among seropositive dogs in: a) the probability of detecting parasites in a 2-year follow-up; b) their intensity of infectiousness (=infective force) for T. infestans 3rd-4th instar nymphs, as measured by the percentage of infected bugs observed in each dog xenodiagnosis. Moreover, not only was the infective force of seropositive dogs for bugs approximately constant through lifetime, but it was significantly higher than the one recorded for children in the present survey, and for human people by other researchers. Therefore, and since T. infestans field populations show high feeding frequencies on dogs, the latter are expected to make the greatest contribution to the pool of infected vectors in the rural household of Argentina. This characteristic should be sufficient to involve canine reservoirs definitely as a risk factor for human people residing in the same house. The increased severity of parasitemia observed among dogs in this survey may be related to the acute undernutrition characteristic of canine populations of poor rural areas in our country, which is expected to affect the ability of the host to manage the infection.

Otimização energética em redes óticas de próxima geração Flex-grid vs Fixed-grid

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia de Eletrónica e Telecomunicações

Efficient digital self-calibration of video-rate pipeline ADCs using white gaussian noise

Proceedings of IEEE, ISCAS 2003, Vol.I, pp. 877-880

Trends of T. cruzi infection based on data from blood bank screening

Between October 1988 and April 1989 a cross-sectional survey was carried out in six out of eight blood banks of Goiânia, Central Brazil. Subjects attending for first-time blood donation in the mornings of the study period (n = 1358) were interviewed and screened for T. cruzi infection as a part of a major study among blood donors. Tests to anti-T. cruzi antibodies were performed, simultaneously, by indirect hem agglutination test (IHA) and complement fixation test (CFT). A subject was considered seropositive when any one of the two tests showed a positive result. Information on age, sex, place of birth, migration and socio-economic level was recorded. Results from this survey were compared with seroprevalence rates obtained in previous studies in an attempt to analyse trend of T. cruzi infection in an endemic urban area. The overall seroprevalence of T. cruzi infection among first-time donors was found to be 3.5% (95% confidence interval 2.5%-4.5% ). The seroprevalence rate increased with age up to 45 years and then decreased. Migrants from rural areas had higher seroprevalence rates than subjects from urban counties (1.8%-16.2% vs. 0%-3.6%). A four fold decrease in prevalence rates was observed when these rates were compared with those of fifteen years ago. Two possible hypotheses to explain this difference were suggested: 1. a cohort effect related with the decrease of transmission in rural areas and/or 2. a differential proportion of people of rural origin among blood donors between the two periods. The potential usefulness of blood banks as a source of epidemiological information to monitor trends of T. cruzi infection in an urban adult population was stressed.

Reinfection after treatment of schistosomiasis: environment or "predisposition"?

Although very efficient for the control of morbidity due to S. mansoni in individual patients, chemotherapy has not proven successful in the management of transmission within hyperendemic areas when used alone, even if repeated at short intervals. Consequently, a great deal of effort has been expended toward immunologic investigation and development of a specific vaccine. Based upon a study of a group of children (5-14 years) from the state of Alagoas, the author demonstrates that the outcome one year after chemotherapy depends essentially on the "risk rating" of the area of domicile. A regression analysis did not reveal significant correlation to neither age, sex or initial egg counts. Although the study was not designed to reveal individual variations in the immune status, it is postulated that putative differences in genetic make-up are irrelevant in terms of large-scale intervention. Since morbidity due to S. mansoni has substantially declined during the last two or three decades, a control policy based on vaccination can only be justified if high levels of protective immunity can be attained. At any rate, such a vaccine will have to be administered in early childhood (preferably below the age of three). It can also be demonstrated that immunization in adolescence or adulthood serves no purpose whatsoever. The author is convinced that environmental intervention, usually dismissed as unrealistic in terms of the developing countries, is not only feasible, if done on a selective basis, but prioritary.